Mayhem

Createspace vs. Lightning Source For Self-Published Print Books [Molly Greene]

2012-01-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

The Great Debate: Createspace vs. Lightning Source For Self-Published Print Books

by Molly Greene on OCTOBER 17, 2011 in SELF-PUBLISHING, WRITING & WRITERS

Another fabulous guest post courtesy of my generous friend and best-selling, award-winning author, Terri Giuliano Long!

Congratulations! You’ve decided to take the plunge and publish your book. Welcome to the indie revolution! In addition to the myriad design and marketing decisions you’re about to make, you must also decide whether to publish only in eBook format or publish in hard copy too. Authors choose one option or the other for various reasons. For our purposes, we’ll assume that you’ve decided to publish your masterpiece, your baby, in paper.

Which service do you use? If you’re the nervous type who prefers everything done for you, you may want to go with one of the full-service self-publishing houses. It’s been a publishing lifetime since those so-called “vanity presses” made their debut. Back in the day, print on demand was a dirty word and authors who published with these shady companies worked (their detractors whispered), under the sick yellow glint of supreme self-delusion.

Today, even the top dogs use POD technology, and terrific full-service publishers, like Pennsylvania-based Infinity Publishing, offer an array of high-quality services and print books that rival any I’ve seen on the market. Of course, those services come at a cost. Royalties are typically low and retail prices can be high.

If you’re looking for a low cost, high royalty option, the two major competitors are Createspace and Lightning Source. While both are reputable companies that produce library-quality books, there are major benefits, drawbacks and differences to each that every author should be aware of before making an educated choice.

CREATESPACE
PROS:
Createspace is a quick, relatively simple, inexpensive option for authors hoping to sell high-quality hard copies of their self-published books primarily online. With Createspace, publishing a book is easy and hassle-free; optional services include complete setup, cover design, formatting, and marketing. CS also offers a free DIY book creation service. Or, if you wish, you can hire your own designer. As long as your digital file meets CS specifications, you’re good to go. You can use your own ISBN (purchased separately, on your own) or, if you prefer, Createspace will supply one for you. (If you opt to distribute through the library and academic institution channel, however, you must use a CS-assigned ISBN. When I published my CS edition, that’s the reason I used theirs.)

Like most self-publishing companies, Createspace allows the author/publisher to choose the book’s retail price. By self-publishing standards, the CS per/book cost is low, offering authors the flexibility of choosing either a higher royalty (by setting a higher retail price) or a lower retail price (enticing for buyers, but lower royalties to the author).

With retail pricing, CS and LS are comparable. Compared to other self-publishing companies, CS and LS come out ahead. At one point, I considered working with a full-service self-publisher. I loved the company, found the staff friendly and professional, their design services excellent, and their print quality superior to CS; problem was, their sales model, which offered absolutely no flexibility, would have forced me to set my retail price at a minimum of $17.95, a cost that I felt would price my book out of the market.

CONS:
Createspace offers no return policy, which means corporate brick-and-mortar bookstore chains are unlikely to stock your book. According to a Createspace customer service rep, the company instituted this policy to protect their authors: returns are unpredictable and, with shipping and handling expenses, accepting returns can get costly. This is certainly true, particularly if you factor in return shipping and handling changes.

For expanded distribution channels, CS offers a set wholesale discount of 40%. The author has no choice in this. The industry standard is 55%, with 47% and under considered a “short discount.” While, yes, less of a discount means that authors earn a higher royalty, a sub-standard discount decreases incentives for bookstores.

Today, with the rapid decline in bookstore sales, and the majority of sales occurring online, you may not care if bookstores carry your paperback book. However, if you suddenly find yourself with a hot-selling title, you may change your mind. If you try to place your CS-distributed book in bookstores, you’ll run into problems. When In Leah’s Wake hit the Barnes & Noble bestseller list in August, B&N considered stocking the paperback in their brick and mortar stores. When they realized that Createspace was the distributor, they declined, citing the CS non-return policy. I never reached the point of negotiating discounts. Unfortunately, I ran into the same thing with other bookstores.

Of course, stores can always order your book from Createspace to fill a customer request. Nevertheless, if they don’t stock your book – put it on their shelf or, better yet, in their window – you lose impulse buyers and bookstore loyalists, as well as bookstore employee evangelists. As a solution, Createspace suggests hand-selling your book. If you approach your local B&N or independent bookstore, especially if they anticipate enough local interest to generate sales, there is a good chance that they’ll agree to stock your book. As an incentive, you can offer your own return policy or perhaps ask them if they’ll accept your books on consignment.

These are great ideas, but selling books by hand takes time and energy that many authors simply don’t have.

LIGHTNING SOURCEIn August, when Barnes & Noble declined to stock my book, I contracted with Lightning Source to print and distribute a separate ILW edition. It’s too soon to determine if this will have been a good or bad move. While the Lightening Source print edition of ILW is now readily available to stores, and can be ordered for overnight pickup, LS reports only total sale numbers, giving me no way to tell if bookstores have ordered copies to shelf.

Despite nearly equal numbers – in September, I sold 223 paperback books through Createspace and 188 through Lightning Source – my Lightning Source edition ranks consistently lower on Amazon than my Createspace edition. This hour, for example, my LS rank is #22,678, CS #4522. Sales calculations determine rank. This disparity in Amazon rank, and again with total sales being roughly equal, suggests that many of my LS sales come from retailers other than Amazon.

PROS:
Lightning Source, the go-to POD publisher for big guys like Random House, offers library-quality POD as well as offset printing (for higher print runs). They can also scan existing hard copies, a service CS doesn’t offer.

The return policy and wholesale discount makes LS books more attractive to booksellers. LS publishers have the option of accepting or not accepting returns. As a publisher, you set your own retail discount – I offer the standard 55% but you may offer less – giving you flexibility in offering wholesale incentives.

Lightning Source distributes titles through all the major players, including Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Bertrams, and others, which means that stores, libraries and academic institutions can buy LS books without making any changes to their process. Theoretically, if you go with LS, bookstores, libraries and academic institutions should be more inclined to buy your books.

CONS:
Lightning Source costs more than CS. LS charges a $37.50 setup fee and $30 for proofs. Later, if you need to make corrections, you’ll be charged $30 per file change, plus $30 for a new proof. Createspace offers free setup, proofs have the same low set-cost as books, based on size and page count – in my case, $5.17 – and each file change costs $25, in addition to the set single book charge.

Should you decide to order a book for your own use or to give to a friend, Lightning Source charges more too. One copy of In Leah’s Wake from Lightning Source costs $6.30, plus shipping; the same book from Createspace – if I’m enrolled in their Pro Plan - costs $5.17, plus shipping. The difference is, the price of CS books is set, with the same cost for 1 or 500 books, while Lightning Source offers quantity discounts.

With LS, the book creation process is more complicated than with CS. First, LS is entirely DIY. Although they do provide optional marketing services, they offer no design services. If you run into a problem with a digital file, you’re responsible for making corrections. While the same is true with CS, CS offers design services.

Before you begin, you must create a publishing company. There is no need to incorporate. You can set up an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) or operate under a trade name, also called a DBA (Doing Business As). Here’s info from the Small Business Association on both. Lightening Source requires you to fill out a standard business application. This is not a hugely big deal, but it can be time-consuming. By the time I had my paperwork in order and submitted, two weeks had gone by.

Another drawback: Amazon stocks CS titles, while listing LS titles as having a 1 – 4 week delivery time. (LS claims to ship Web orders within 5 days.) This is purely anecdotal, but the delivery lag seems to be a turn-off for buyers. On Amazon, my LS edition retails for $2.00 less than my CS edition, yet my CS sales are much higher. To check the veracity of Amazon’s listed delivery times, I ordered a copy of my LS title; it arrived in less than a week.

Amazon’s delivery time for my LS edition recently increased from 3 to up to 4 weeks, so these artificially extended delivery times may be a marketing decision on Amazon’s part. I’m not sure. It’s possible that they’ll reverse it, but, while I hate to be a naysayer, I don’t see that happening unless they get a lot of flack.

SELLING THROUGH BOTH DISTRIBUTORS: You may be thinking, as I did – I’m smart: I’ll use CS for Amazon sales and LS for distribution. If so, hold on.

First, by publishing print editions through both companies, using separate ISBN numbers (as I currently do), you kick yourself in the head. Book Scan, the company that tracks book sales,tracks by ISBN number. There is no way to show that two ISBN numbers belong to one book. Having two separate editions of a book hurts your sales rank. This is true on retail sites like Amazon and it’s also true of tracking for bestseller lists like USA Today or the NY Times. As we all know, once they hit stride, bestselling books sell because they’re bestsellers.

The other day, my CS edition ranked under 3500 on Amazon, while my LS edition ranked over 19,000. If every sale were credited to one edition, the higher sales numbers should have put my rank under 1000. Sales numbers affect not only buyer perception. They also determine where your book populates in queues. A book with high sales finds its way into the “readers who bought this also bought this” queues of popular titles. When you finish a book you loved, where do look for another? First, check the author’s backlist – and then you look at those queues. Believe me, a book on the first page of the queue on the detail page for The Help sells copies.

A book queued with a hot title has what we refer to as “a positive meta-message.” In other words, a book associated with a hot title gains status in the buyer’s mind. Currently, ILW is queued with Midwives, While I Was Gone, and a few other older Oprah book picks. I’m ecstatic! Truly, I am. But, what if I’d been smart and stuck with one edition? Combined sales may have put it in the queue with newer bestsellers, maybe even on a back page in the queue under The Help.

Yes, if you own the ISBN for your book, you may use the same number for both LS & CS print editions. BUT – while this may help your Book Scan rank – if you’re NY Times bestseller caliber, kudos to you – it changes nothing on Amazon, the world’s number one reseller. On Amazon you will still have two detail pages – one for the CS and one for the LS edition. Despite using the same ISBN number, sales of CS and LS editions will be credited separately. So, except for Book Scan, you’ll still be dealing with ALL problems outlined above.

NOTE: I was contacted recently by Aaron Shepherd/Shepherd Publications. According to Aaron, who’s published 12 books, if you use the same ISBN number for your Lightning Source and Createspace books, you will not – as I had been told by the CS rep I spoke with – end up with two detail pages. Here’s how Aaron recommends getting around this: http://www.newselfpublishing.com/PlanB.html You may still encounter the problems I mention above with availability and stocking.

I haven’t tried Aaron’s method, only because I just learned about it and have not yet had time to make the adjustments. Although it seems rather complicated and time-intensive, it may be worth trying.

Important: LS requires you to own the ISBN. You can NOT use a Createspace-supplied ISBN number with LS. If you publish with CS and opt-in to the library and academic institution distribution channel, you MUST use a CS ISBN.

WHAT TO DO?
It takes about 4 – 6 weeks for LS titles to populate on online retailer sites. A few weeks after mine did, spurred by the rank issue – sadly I’d failed to consider the rank issue beforehand – I contacted LS and asked them to cancel distribution to Amazon. I figured I’d use CS to service the Amazon behemoth and LS everywhere else.

No dice. With Lightning Source, it’s all or nothing. You distribute or you don’t. You can’t pick and choose.

Meanwhile, I’d already cancelled CS distribution. Practically overnight, the CS edition disappeared from online retailer shelves – e.g. BN – leaving me with a LS-distributed book with a 1 -3 week delivery time! Ack! Only one week earlier, the LS book had been listed as in stock! SO . . . I re-upped CS distribution – what choice did I have? – putting me right back at square one.

My advice? Wait until your eBook sales pop to spring for a paperback. Six months is a light-year in this evolving publishing world, and who knows? The rules may have changed by then. Or, publish your paperback with Createspace.

If you have the time and resources, consider hand selling to bookstores. If sales justify it (you’ll have to decide when that is) and you can afford to, offer your own return policy. This may not fly with corporate retailers like Barnes and Noble, but it will probably work in local BN and some indie bookstores.

For now, while it’s certainly not optimal, experience tells me that’s our best bet.

Terri Giuliano Long grew up in the company of stories both of her own making and as written by others. Books offer her a zest for life’s highs and comfort in its lows. She’s all-too-happy to share this love with others as a novelist and a writing teacher at Boston College. She was grateful and thrilled beyond words when her award-winning debut literary novel, In Leah’s Wake, hit the Barnes and Noble and Amazon bestseller lists in August. She owes a lot of wonderful people – big time! – for any success she’s enjoyed! Follow Terri on twitter @tglong, and visit her website.

In Leah’s Wake can be purchased through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Also available at local indie bookstores through IndieBound.

Twitter know how for Authors [Molly Greene]

2012-01-29T18:26:00.001-08:00

0 – 4000 in a Snap! How to Build a Quality Twitter Following FAST

by Molly Greene on SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 in GENERAL, SOCIAL MEDIA, WRITING & WRITERS

If you’re an author, blogger or book reviewer learning the social media ropes, your goal is probably to build readership for your blog and/or grow interest in your book. The pros tell us creating a twitter following is one of the best ways to drive blog traffic, and, hopefully, gain respect. So here you are. You have a twitter handle, bio and photo, and understand how to tweet and check @mentions and retweets. What next? Time to build a serious twitter following.

When I fired up my twitter account, defining a purpose was easy. Figuring out how to grow a following was mind-boggling. Since then, I’ve found that having a simple, manageable process in place designed to increase my twitter presence has positively affected my success. Yes, it takes time, but if you make a plan and stick to it, the rewards will be evident soon enough!

Different philosophies exist, and I often see tweeps discussing their desire to limit follows to people they’re familiar with. I don’t believe this approach will result in the level of promotion a new author or blogger requires. The truth is, by the time you have a few hundred followers you can’t easily pick tweets out of the melee, anyhow.

It’s easier to rely on other methods to keep track of fellow tweeters. Twitter is all about building a mutual, interactive network, and you need to be an active supporter to be a valuable part of your team. It’s much easier to use LISTS (more later) to keep close tabs on your favorites. Don’t let the fear you might lose track of people hold you back. Build your twitter platform NOW!

Here’s my story: In early March, 2011, I had a brand-new blog and my debut novel was nearly ready to send off to an editor. My intention was to create a platform to promote my book (scheduled for release Spring 2012) by growing online readership and cementing twitter relationships with other authors and pros who would hopefully help me learn the mysteries of book publishing and promotion.

To get up to speed, I learned twitter basics by reading reference material (like Publishing Talk’sTwitter Cheat Sheet) and sending a few dozen tweets, but mainly observed. When I felt confident, I got serious and began to follow active tweeters in earnest, setting a goal to follow 25 people daily. I looked for readers and fellow writers, authors, novelists, bloggers and book reviewers. I assumed these would be the most likely to support authors like myself. (Resources like Tweetadder will automate this process for you, but I prefer to do it “by hand.”)

I kept track by turning on notifications to be emailed every time someone follows, and every morning I checked messages (and still do) without fail, reviewed new tweep’s feeds, and followed back those who are actively interacting, except those listed below, and minus businesses, porn stars and search bots. (Illustrated by my followers vs. following numbers.)

To find potential followers, I viewed other author’s followers, checked out hashtags, reviewed public author’s lists, and followed twitter’s suggestions of “people similar to me.” I read every potential follower’s tweet feed to be sure they were interacting positively with others, and I followed them when I liked what I saw.

My intention is NOT to point the finger, offend, or disrespect anyone. Tweeps have different reasons for being on twitter, mine is to talk with real people who have the same goals I do! I made a decision not to follow:

• Tweeps who do not interact with others at all (no @mentions in their feed), and who only tweet quotes, statements, or links to business promotions
• Tweeps who are inactive, have not tweeted recently and/or don’t tweet regularly
• Tweeps with a massive list of followers, as I’m not sure they can really interact (exception! Paul Dorset at 55,000 followers – check out his blog: How to build a brand on Twitter)
• Tweeps who tweet about being “unfollowed” or dissed by someone
• Tweeps who don’t tweet in English
• Tweeps with a list of followers much, much higher than they number they’re following. They probably won’t follow back, or they’ll follow for a day, then unfollow, a plan people sometimes adhere to when the agenda is to drive up numbers.

You may appear unpopular if you’re following 1500 people and only have 100 followers. You can avoid this by being patient and following slowly (hence my figure of 25 a day). Also, Twitter doesn’t like it when you try to follow too many all at once. (Review Twitter’s Follow Limits)
I soon discovered that those interested in following back would do so within a week to 10 days, with few exceptions. So I signed up for justunfollow.com (free for 25 per day) and began to unfollow people who opted not to follow me back, 25 at a time, a couple of times a week. Of course, I allowed a lead time of about 10 days for folks to follow if they had a mind to. (I no longer need this service every week, and you’ll get to that point, as well.)

Unfollowing people who aren’t interested in your message (without judgment!) keeps your figures close re: the percentage of people you are following vs. the number of tweeps following you. Once you get to 2,000, twitter limits the amount of people it allows you to follow – IF you’re following way more than are following you. So best to keep your numbers close right from the beginning. Reminder: There are so many reasons why people don’t follow back, and none of them are personal, so do NOT focus on this, it’s irrelevant!

To grow a quality following, you must interact with a percentage of your followers, comment on their blogs, and help with retweets. A sincere, reliable way to gain true support is to retweet blog posts, book reviews and book links. I like Steven Covey’s advice, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Just as in life, on twitter we benefit when we give our support without expecting paybacks. Give to gain. Don’t expect others to support you if you haven’t paid your dues. AND ALWAYS SAY THANK YOU!

IMPORTANT! These behaviors demonstrate bad manners! DO NOT:
• tweet snarky comments about others
• tweet anything about people not following you, and don’t tweet an @mention about those who unfollowed you (If you’ve been around for a while, you know twitter unfollows people FOR YOU, unbidden and without your knowledge, and you cannot tell the difference between a twitter mistake and a purposeful action by a follower. @mentioning unfollows is classless. Take your hits and move on.)
• DM or tweet someone directly with an uninvited self-promotion or a link to your book or blog! Here’s an example of what NOT to do: @mollygreene, Check out my blog atwww.Imagreatwriter.blogspot.com - Thanks! or @mollygreene good afternoon, may I interest you in my book? Its a fabulous read on www. mememememe.com

So now more about lists. To keep close tabs on a group of people, create a twitter list and add your faves. When you click on your list, you’ll see their feeds. I’ve created a couple of private lists (you can make your lists public) for my besties so I can easily keep tabs on them and RT without missing anything, and I review it daily. You don’t have to be following people to keep them in a list, so you can do this with agents or anyone you care to keep close.

I’m happy to report that my twitter experience is fabulous. I have SO much fun on twitter I actually spend too much time on the site! I have the best followers in the world, and my hope is that they feel the same about yours truly.

I owe a special thanks to my twitter besties @tesshardwick, @tglong, and @christinenolfi, who reached out early on and took me under their wing. They showed me how to be a REAL twitter sister, and to understand how it should be done. Follow them all!

Happy tweeting!

How to set up a list:
• Go to “lists” on your profile page
• Choose “create a new list”
• Choose “private” or “public,” and name it, etc.*
• Go to the tweeps’ profile pages and click on the black “head and shoulders” icon to the right of the DM envelope, and add them to the list
• Back on your own profile page, click on “lists,” and choose from the drop-down

Resources:
Must read! Novel Publicity’s Cease and Desist: 10 Bad Twitter practices to be stopped immediately! http://bit.ly/ncir5v @novelpublicity @emlynchand
Twitter Rocks! http://bit.ly/kCzgdBTerri Long’s @tglong 5 EASY Ways to Use Twitter to Increase Blog TRAFFIC!http://fb.me/XmynI4n2John Cox/Paul Dorset @jcx27 How to Get 16,000 Twitter Followers in 90 Days without steroidshttp://bit.ly/hx9K0U (A great read. We used a similar method, but Paul kicked it up a notch!)Cathy Larkin, How to use Twitter Lists, My POV Tess Hardwick’s guest post re: how twitter can help sell books! To Blog, or Not to Blog? THAT is the Question!

*If you set your lists to public you can use a service like http://paper.li to publish daily feeds from your lists which also promotes your followers and keeps them happy – this from Paul Dorset @jcx27

How to convert Kindle files to Epub [by Hettie Ashwin]

2012-01-29T18:20:00.001-08:00

~PEN TO PAPER~: How to convert kindle AWZ files to Epub for generi...: There are so many readers on the market and so many files to choose from. But what if you want to buy that book on Amazon and it is for kind...

Kathy's Library: All in the Woods (Book Review)

2012-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

Kathy's Library: All in the Woods (Book Review): Title: All in the Woods Author: J R Poulter Illustrator: Linda Gunn Source: From author for review Goodreads Summary: 'All in the Woo...

Buy it on Amazon and BookDepository.com

GRIEF WRITING

2011-11-19T18:15:00.001-08:00

GRIEFWRITING – J.R.Poulter

What is Grief Writing and Why it is useful:

Grief writing is a tool, one tool amongmany to use -

· as a coping mechanism,

· as a survival mechanism,

· as a release

· as a celebration of a life lostor a trauma survived.

It is a means of coming to terms withtraumatic events – death, dying as with the eating, gradual death of cancer,loss, suicide, disappearance as when a loved one goes missing, injury anddisablement.

It can be a path out of depression andthrough the ocean of seemingly insurmountable grief.

The saying ‘a problem shared is a problemhalved’ applies in all instances involving grief and trauma. Sharing with someone you know and trustis important. If no access to such a person or to counseling is available, griefwriting will help you exteriorise, unburden, cope.

A bit about my own background and howwriting has helped me:

My relationship as a child and young personwith my mother was a role reversal. My mother suffered deep-seated depressioncaused by very severe, sustained sibling abuse, throughout her very traumaticchildhood. At certain times of year, depression took over. I was confidante andcomforter. This started when I was about 4 years old. Writing quickly became mysurvival tool. Who are you going to confide in when it is your mother who isthe one heaping on the emotional and psychological burdens? I confided inprayers and in my writing.

“Mending Lucille”, my book that won theCrichton in 2009, grew partially out of my experiences with my own family. Mymother never left physically, but from an emotional standpoint, from amothering standpoint, she was never able to be there for me. My father triedbut he had suffered too, a nervous breakdown after World War II that wasdirectly related to his war time experiences as a bomber pilot andcalculatingly self-obsessed parents who sent him to boarding school almost fromthe start of primary.

My first writings were plays that I put onwith the neighbourhood children. Friends an relatives were the audience. Latercame poetry, later still children’s books and books for education and, morerecently, short stories. I am teaching myself script writing.

How to use Grief Writing:

1. Journaling –

Keys to get started -

· Collage Key - Letting it go, letting it flow – cut words that relate to you, to your situation out of a magazineor newspaper. Take a large sheet of paper – butcher’s paper or newspaperoff-cut and colour large blobs of colour/or paint/ or paste scraps of colouredpaper. Paste the cut out words on the colour that matches for you. This isimportant - let your feelings dictate here, not your knowledge of the word,definitions of the word or anything else. For example – tears can be ‘red’ or‘gray’ or ‘blue’ or ‘white’ or whatever colour speaks to you NOW as relating tothat word.

· Stream of Consciousness - With those words as stimuli, put pen to paper/fingers to keyboardwith stream of consciousness writing.This means putting pen to paper and just writing - all your feelings, thoughts, fears, doubts, memories. Donot worry about punctuation, spelling or grammar - just write. If writing istoo daunting straight off, then speak your feelings into a recorder thentranscribe.

Later, can beminutes to months later – go back, read it, punctuate, edit grammar. Then readit out loud or have someone close to you read it. This step helps place theanguish beyond you, outside of you, helps you to see where you are in thecontext of what you are experiencing with more clarity. It gives perspective, enablesgrater objectivity. It helps you see how far your have moved from hurt tohealing. It also acts as areference point for further writing.

· Memories & Memorabilia - Collect together memorabilia of your life as it was impacted bythe person and / or event that is the focal point of your grief. Write downwords that strongly connect you to the person/event. Write down words thatdescribe those words.

Collect togethermemorabilia of anything ‘good’ / life affirming, anything that helped sustainyou through the grieving process. Write down the words, descriptions of anyimages, that most strongly connect you to the person or event that is thesource of your grief.

2. Affirmation –

Redo the stream of consciousness step withmemorabilia around you and fresh in mind, then shape the resulting writing intoa prose piece or poem. Turn it into a Poster Poem by illustrating it withphotographs, craft work, collage or your own drawings.

Journal a piece that encapsulates where youare now and what lies ahead that you hope for. Thank those who have helped yousurvival thus far.

Keep all your poems or prose piecestogether and periodically review them. This is your journey in writing.

3. Forgiveness

Forgive others their part objective orsubjective; forgive yourself your part objective or subjective. Releasingyourself and others enables you to move on with your life, to move to the nextstage of writing. This in NO WAY negates what has happened to cause your griefin the first place. This in NO way negates the abuser’s culpability. This step will enable you to moreeffectively, one day, reach out and help others.

4. The Craft of Writing

Think of the sound words make and theimages they evoke – words like ‘cut’, ‘hack’ are not gentle in sound ormeaning. Words like ‘snow’ and ‘grass’ have a flow to them that suggestscovering.

Try using poetic devices like onomatopoeia [sound echoing sense, e.g.,feathery soft, the eider down settled] and simile[this is like that, e.g., fleece white as snow], metaphor [saying this is that, e.g., the gold-haired sun] or transferred epithet [giving humancharacteristics to inanimate objects or nonhuman life forms e.g., the door stubbornly stuck fast] inyour writing to add impact.

Use haiku– the traditional three-line Japanese verse form of 5 syllables, 7syllables, 5 syllables - to tighten and focus your expression. Not one word iswasted in haiku.

Read what you have written out loud. Yourear will sense where the flow of your writing needs to be smoothed further orperhaps to be interrupted, punctuated to create shorter sentences for addeddramatic effect.

Collect your writings together into afolder and desktop them into akeepsake booklet. MicrosoftPublisher, Open Office drawing; Star Office Presentation; or Swift Printfolio or PageMaker are all options if you have a computer.Illustrate your writings with memorabilia, photographs, sketches, snippets from magazines and newspapers, cards and soon.

Two examples from my own writing – myeldest son lost three friends within 18 months in horror road crashes.

Field Surgeon Remembering, [in SmallPackages]

From his garden, he hears young men prowlin their cars,

Arms captured in a circling crush,

Hears their music blasting,

Down thestethoscope the beat is strong.

They U with screaming rubber.

He begins again, the third time tonight,the needle circling.

The metal cut deep in. The wound is suturedover staying the scar.

He wonders, from his garden, if the tanktracks are

Still there, snailing among the rosy flesh.

He remembers the bodies and how he stitched

Deliberate tank tracks across the skin,

The needle circling, the thread drawingtorn flesh together.

He thinks, “there is no perfect rose.”

SlaughterHouse Road by J.R.McRae [in Speed Poets]

Ten miles down

Slaughterhouse Road,

A cemetery -

Three crosses with their plastic flowers

Here

On the home run.

John,

The steering wheel

Crushing his sternum to spine,

Marie,

With glass shards

Through her jugular,

And little Daisy,

Thrown

Three meters into the tall grass,

Dying for 24 hours before

Joe,

On his way home,

Saw the wreck

And called 000 too late.

Joe's wife, Amelia,

Put the crosses there

For pity's sake.

Joe put the flowers

From the refectory

At the Slaughterhouse.

My websites:

www.jenniferrpoulter.weebly.com,

www.jrmcrae-subversive.weebly.com

LINKS:

Some examples – Journal writing

a. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/journaling/

b. http://journalforyou.com/tag/journaling/

c. http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm

d. http://www.createwritenow.com/journaling-tips/

e. http://inspiredtojournal.net/

Some web examples of Grief Writing/blogging

http://www.guyfinley.org/free-content/writings/q-and-a/387

http://www.barbarabrabec.com/writing_publishing/Writing-as-Therapy.htm

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/26004-beyond-grief

http://thenightifollowedtheblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-grief-writing-through-pain.html

http://conversationswithteddy.com/thoughts/

Further Reading:

· Karen O. Johnson, Griefabet – a book of survival and coping strategies – wise,‘wonder’ full, whimsical and life affirming - small tactics to keep you going.

· Madelaine Tasky Sharples, Leavingthe Hall Light On - a family’s journey back after the suicide of a severely bipolar son/brother

· Jessica Bell, Twisted Velvet Chains - a chronicling of a daughter’sexperience growing up with a suicidal, bipolar mother.

· Shirley Pitcher, Conversations with Teddy – first in aseries of memoirs about surviving an abusive childhood.

· John Knight, “Letters from the Asylum” – poems from apoet who fought bipolar all his life.

· Les Murray, Killing the Black Dog – the poet’saccount of struggling with depression lifelong and poems specially selected bythe poet.

REVIEW of "Cleave" by Angela Felsted

2011-11-19T18:05:00.001-08:00

Cleave by Angela Felsted - REVIEW by J.R.McRae

This first chapbook by Angela is a promiseof more intriguing, achingly revealing, painful and joyous revelations to come.It is an intensely personal collection. Were it not for the pull of thewonderful imagery, one might flinch from its almost too acutely drawn accounts.

The loss of a parent – “a man holds alittle girl’s hand” – gives us the pain and self doubt of a child who feelsabandoned by parental separation and yet, in hindsight, cannot deny thefeelings in the last contact and memories invoked.

“you think of the hug he ached to give you

filledwith sunsets, sandcastles, a warm breeze

handfulsof shells from the sea.

First love laid bare – “under waningstars” and “she came to you as anew bride” - in the hands of a much older man, is as much a diary of betrayalas a rite of passage.

“friends, he called us

inthe hushed fervent

voiceof a preacher

claspingmy body to

his,front against front

likea god fearing man

prayspalm against palm.

ourshoes made

circlesin the dying

leaves.our friendship

dyingwith them.”

Imagesof snow/frosting and sunshine/yellow flowers weave through the entirecollection, defining its pages and creating a sense of life in all itscomplexity and contradiction. Some examples follow -

“daffodilpetals unfurling

tothe sun, spreading with

theswell of her stomach” [she cried in to the silver delta]

“they shot

through his scalp like new

grass, meadows of gold”

[my grandfather’shat hid the best of him]

“her baptism like

aswatch of snow-white cotton, taken from the blanket

nurses wrapped her in at birth.” [when my daughter moves away from me]

andone of my favourite verses –

“inthe station, a clock strikes two.

onthe platform, snowflakes kiss.

yearsfrom now, the girl will leave home

andthe snowflakes whirling, falling in her hair

willmirror the stirrings of her

guardedheart: soft, cold, delicate. “ [a man hold’s a little girl’s hand]

Marriedlife is shown as a seesaw of love and disaffection - “your truth like a water drop” and “your love like an old well” -

“metal squeals on metal, ropes

stretch, arms ache. the bucketcreaks as

i lift it to my lips, tip back myface, wait

for the life-giving deluge of yourlove.

an avalanche of topsoil falls into my

mouth. why do i always come back?”

Then there is the anguish ofmotherhood – “if I refused tocry”, “neurofeedback” and “sittingin church” – the gigantean effort, the endless wondering and helplessness fedby censorious others,

“and that’s when i sense it: thewary gaze of the

woman in front of us, moving from

my brood to her four obedientdaughters

each with a wide brimmed pale pinkhat.

they fold their hands just liketheir mother’s

silent mannequins in a fancy storewindow”

The collectionstarts with “buttercups” and ends with -

“gauzyin the moon's silver-white rays.

naked skin glowingas pale frosting “

This is a collection that will resonatewith women the world over! But keep tissues by and be prepared for the sharpsting of recognition.

STRING BRIDGE by Jessica Bell, Lucky Press - Amazon chart rush

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is THE day to help Jessica Bell's debut, STRING BRIDGE, hitthe bestseller list on Amazon, and receive the all-original soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, written and performed by the author herself, for free!

All you have to do ispurchase the book today (paperback, or eBook), November 11th, andthen email the receipt to:

jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com

She willthen email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

If you arenot familiar with String Bridge,check out the book trailer:

Rave Reviews for String Bridge:

“Jessica Bell’s STRING BRIDGE strummed the fret of myveins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page,yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones ofheavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just aswith any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.” ~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal

“Poet andmusician Jessica Bell's debut novel String Bridge is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and thedifficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout,seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure thatallows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her worldbegins to unravel … String Bridge isa powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just ahint of magic.” ~ Magdalena Ball, author of RepulsionThrust and Sleep Before Evening

“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writerof great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficultscenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holdsbarred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to developcharacter, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel.I look forward to reading hernext novel, and next and next.” ~ Karen JonesGowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell
Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/
Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell
Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com

Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!

Jessica Bell's "String Bridge" just out with Lucky Press - Author interview

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Jessica Bell – interview for ‘String Bridge” by J.R.McRae

1. Your music is an important part of your life and the musicality ofwords is very evident in your writing. How much inspiration do you draw from music in your writing? What partdid music play in inspiring and in shaping “String Bridge”?

Even though music doesn’t define me as much as writing does, yes, itis still a big part of my life. The idea for the book came about when I wasthinking about a time in my life when music was all I ever wanted to breathe.Even though my priorities had changed, I still wanted to write about the powermusic has over someone who is so passionate about it. But I think music couldbe replaced by any sort of passion in String Bridge, because basically thestory is about needing something more than you need yourself.

2. “String” speaks to me of an unraveling—he deconstruction of a cat’scradle /string bridge and, of course, of guitar strings. Was this deliberate?

Absolutely. I wanted the title to symbolize three things:

· Guitar strings, obviously, as this is the instrument Melody plays.

· The bridge of the guitar which keeps the guitar in tune. This alsosymbolizes how well Melody stays mentally in tune throughout the story.

· The symbolic bridge Melody has to cross to get where she wants to beis made of string, meaning it’s not very secure.

3. I’ve come to know you through your poetry, which has an edgy rawnessbut also a lyricism. How important is your poet’s skill to your author role?

Very important. I don’t think I’d write the way I do if I didn’twrite poetry. I really enjoy embellishing my prose with the perfect soundingword or phrase. It’s like a game to me sometimes. I have spent hours on onesentence before. I know that is sort of going too far, but I can’t help it. Ifit’s not right, it not right!

4. Have you ever found yourself writing a passage and realizing this isalso going to result in a poem? Can you share some examples?

Well, yes. One example is the preface to my novel. I never ‘used’ itas a poem, but it’s definitely very poetic. You can read that here.

5. Have any of your existing poems inspired passages or even chapters?Can you give examples?

Yes. The following poem ended up being morphed into prose in StringBridge:

Imagine

standing

inthe middle

ofa field

Imagine

reddirt

Imagine

distance

andmore

beyondit

Imagine

searching

forthe end

ofdistance

wherethe stars

jointo it — pins

toa tent in soil

Imagine

lookingup

toa cluster

ofapproving eyes

Imagine

lyingnaked

beneaththem

withhim

Imagine

asilence

thatechoes

thetouch

ofyour hand

tohis cheek

Imagine

existence

beingloud

andsmall

theway

theSun

lightsup

theEarth

Imagine

youare the Earth

andhe is the Sun

silenceis tangible

andthe stars are the souls

ofyour previous lives

thatdistance

isthe place you’ll find death

wherered dirt is your skin

andthe field your bones

Imagine

thatlove

isthe desert

6. All authors bring who they are to their work. How much of who youare informs your work, your characters?

I really don’t think I can give an accurate answer to that question.Sometimes I feel like I’m putting my whole self into my characters until theyend up doing something completely out of my character. I guess I come and go Iwaves. There are moments that reflect me completely and there are others thatare nothing like me.

7. Do you find you emotionally invest in your characters? Have youcreated a character and later felt, oh no, they would not do that, think that,say that and gone back and reshaped the character accordingly?

Yes. My characters changed in every single draft I wrote.

8. What initially inspired you to write “String Bridge’? Or was it aseries of inspirations that came together?

Definitely a series. It all began with an idea that I wanted towrite a book that was realistic rather than glamorous. There is actually nothingleft in the novel now that was in the first draft. It’s come a very long wayand floated down many different paths during the last five years.

9. I’m interested in the interplay of the skills you have, you are verymulti-skilled! You have written and performed your own soundtrack to “StringBridge” which will be released at the same time as the book. How do you jugglethe demands of all your creative outlets—music, poetry, performance, writing?Do you have any tips or tricks you would like to share with readers?

Oh my gosh. I FAIL at juggling. Believe me, I’m always falling overmy balls and then realize that they belong to someone else. I go through phasesand never focus on more than one thing at one time. It just doesn’t work. And Ithink it doesn’t work because I must use different parts of my brain for each. Maybeeach skill does strengthen the other, but it will only intrude if attempted inthe same ‘time period’. So, sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid I don’t haveany tips. I just ‘do’ and then see what happens. And then fix if need be.

UK Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/String-Bridge-Jessica-Bell/dp/0984631747:/

FREE HAIKU WORKSHOP

2011-10-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Gmail - Fwd: KURILPA POETS 30 OCT 2011 AT CROQUET HALL, 91 CORDELIA STREET, SOUTH BRISBANE ALL WELCOME

Dear Kurilpa Poets, Friends, and Word Artists

Haiku workshop alert!! Brisbane poet, Ross Clark, a leading exponent of the haiku form, will present a free writing workshop on Sunday October 30.

He will also bring his expertise as a QUT lecturer into play when he assists budding haikuists (haikuistas?) to craft their own versions of this ancient form of verse.

Arrival time at the venue - the Croquet Club of South Brisbane at 91 Cordelia Street, West End - is 1:45 pm for a 2pm start.

There will also be two open mic sessions which will include the opportunity to present haikus written in the workshop session.

Ross (karasu) began writing haiku in 1988, and by 1990 had helped to found Australia's only dedicated haiku (& cognate forms) journal -- the quarterly paper wasp, and had undertaken a sponsored tour of Japan.

He is the author of two chapbooks of haiku, has appeared in a number of national and international anthologies (occasionally in translation), and has three haiku set into the BCC's Kedron Brook walking & cycle path.

*****************

If you haven't been for a while, why not come along… also let your network of poets and writers, friends and family know about the Kurilpa Poets.

So you know people who don’t even write poetry but might be interested? How about inviting them to enter the poets’ world? Tell them it’s a chance to broaden their horizons, to see through the eyes of others. Interesting discussions and sharing of ideas in a positive environment are always a part of such gatherings. Tell them maybe they just might get the poetry bug and start writing their own work.

Open Mic - Starts at 2pm - All welcome

Arrive 1.45pm for a seat, coffee and tea, and network with your fellow writers and performers

2 x 15 min networking breaks for coffee, tea and cake

Workshop with Ross Clark

further Open Mic til 4.30pm.

For those with their own creative projects, don’t forget Kurilpa Poets now has its own Video Camera, digital camera, data projector, screen, laptop and printer and binder available for members to use.

Celebrating Children's Week

Sunday 30th October, 2011 - Something for the young ones, family, and friends - a great way to start your Sundary morning.
10:30 - 12:30

Bring your children and your grandchildren to the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens for a wonderful morning of storytelling.
I'm sure there will be lots of wonderful entertainments other than me. But I sure would love to see you there. Please feel free to spread email this far and wide. I love a big, big audience. Contact Marilyn Roberts - [marilyn_roberts@bigpond.com]

Call Amanda on 0423 772 407 or email us at kurilpapoets@yahoo.com.au if you wish to use these items. You must be a paid member of the club to access the items. Please Note: All items must be returned in a timely manner, and in the condition in which they were picked up for use.

Share a link on Twitter

2011-10-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Pricing Ourselves out of Existence - downwards
http://modernrosies.blogspot.com/2011/09/equation-for-pricing-handmade-goods-or.html
Why is it that kicking a bloated bit of leather around a bit of grass and bloodying up a lot of other kickers in the process is worth millions when spending hours and hours to create something beautiful, something that adds something positive to the world is valued at what... $5.00 an hour.......? No wonder civilisation is heading down the gurgler!

Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Short Story Writer

2011-10-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Short Story Writer: What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites? Reading has always been a passion and my tas...

Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Poet

2011-10-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Poet: What kinds of poetry, including songs, did you experience as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites? As a child, the rhyth...

About Authors Compare

There is a broad range of authors onboard, from award-winning New York Times bestselling authors from countries like the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia to interesting authors from small publishers around the world.

Sets of questions will be answered by 100 authors around the world so people can compare responses, do statistical analyses with easy-to-calculate percentages, develop ideas about the craft of writing, learn more about their favourite authors, discover the work of new authors in an interesting way, or get facts and figures for journalism and academic papers with easily verifiable source data if people want to look deeper into another person's analysis or statistics. [Steve Rossiter on Authors Compare]

Poetry for Children: Poetry 2010 Sneak Peek List

2011-07-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

Poetry for Children: Poetry 2010 Sneak Peek List
for all those who love children's poetry and believe in the ability of poetry to get kids hooked into reading and literary creativity!

Stories For Sendai - out now - COMPETITION

2011-07-03T01:41:00.001-07:00

This wonderful fundraising anthology is now out on Amazon. Edited by J.C.Martin and Michelle Davidson Argyle, it includes stories inspired by Japan along with stories by numbers of tsunami survivors.

To find out more about the authors, go to the site and read the author interviews:
Sushma Joshi, Nepal,
Lorraine Leo, USA,
Heather Parker, UK,
J.R.McRae, Australia,
Stephen Conley, USA,
Jake Henegan, South Africa,
Gale Massey, USA,
Bat-Ami Gordin, USA,
Roland D. Yeomans, USA,
Philip Allen Loring, Alaska,
Lucy Cripps, Austria,
Damyanti Ghosh, India,
Julie Christine, New Zealand,
Kirsty Logan, Scotland,
C. N. Nevets, USA,
Aron White, USA,

Cherie Reich, USA,
Davin Malasarn, USA,
Michelle Davidson Argyle, Editor, USA,
J.C. Martin, Editor, Malaysia,

To celebrate, J.C. and Michelle are holding a competition
with prizes including manuscript critiques, Amazon vouchers and choice of bestseller from Book Depository and more. Contest closes on 15th July so hurry!

Competition details

Purchase a copy (or more!) of Stories for Sendai when it releases.
Email your receipt to storiesforsendai (at) ymail (dot) com.
One contest entry per purchase--so buy extra copies for your friends/family! :)
Contest closes on July 15th at 10.00pm GMT. Winners will be drawn randomly.
To find who the winners are, click here on July 16th.

100 Stories for Queensland - it is out!

2011-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

My review for "100 Stories for Queensland" is pasted below -

A Veritable Choc Box - Whatever the flavour you favour it's here!

If life is a box of chocolates, then this is the ultimate assortment! This collection is a remarkable mix of stories across numerous genres with something to suit, no matter what your tastes, age, or background. The stories have been drawn from all over the globe and all round Australia. A smorgasbord and it is all for a very good cause, helping Queensland's flood victims rebuild their shattered lives.

Whether you are an animal lover [try "Kittens!" by Sam Adamson] or you want a belly-laugh of a read [try "Why Can't I take Life Easier?" by Keith Havers], something multicultural ["Cake" by Lunar Hine or "Burka" by Sylvia Petter], a story of unrequited love with a twist ["Her Smile", Emma Newman], SciFi adventure ["Transmutator" by Devin Watson or "Drake M. Causeway" by Tomara Armstrong], a tale for the nature lover ["The Speaking Tree" by Alan Baxter or "The Miracle Tree" by E.N. De Choudens], the psycho drama [“Daisy” by Theresa Milstein] or something a bit trippily surreal and poignant at the same time ["Surviving the Kitchen Tiles" by Jessica Bell], it is all there. All collected together for you to dip into at your pleasure, whatever you mood, there will be a read for you!

And there is, as the adman says, MORE! At the end of the volume is a collection of 17 bonus stories, including the novel in miniature "Summer at the Sugar Palace" by Tanya Bell, the boy's own adventure of "The Quest" by Trevor Belshaw, "Clutch" a cruise ship romance with a difference by Jodi Cleghorn, my own tragi-comic "Her Ladyship Awaits..." under my other persona, J.R.McRae, and the uplifting and delightful "Smile" by Stacey Larner.

Short story collections have gained a new impetus with the advent of e-books, i-pads and Apps. A short story is the ideal way to indulge your reading passion on the move, waiting for a bus, train, plane or lift. They are the ideal online read during coffee-break or welcome diversion whilst whiling away time because your partner, lover, friend or colleague is late.

If you know someone going on a cruise or a long journey or a reader with eclectic tastes, this is the perfect present! It is like a box or Haigh's assorted chocs, you just can't wait to dip in! Do yourself a flavour! BUY IT!

Reviews on Amazon, The Book Depository, Boomerang Books

Teller2Teller - storytelling in prose, poetry and off the cuff

2011-06-26T02:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, 24th, was my first live gig for a while and my first ever storytelling using grown up material for a grown up audience. The event was hosted by Teller2Teller at the Brisbane Square Library. Director/Founder/coordinator, Marlene Butteriss, did an outstanding job of bringing the whole together, despite a number of out of left field glitches along the way, including Brisbane Square Library halving the allotted time for our gig! :} On the programme was YA/children's author, Eddie Dowd, Marilyn Roberts, performance poet and yours truly.

Eddie gave a sterling performance of a whimsically funny story of potions and portions and manufacturing and realising your life goals. Marilyn regaled us with her "Pink Lady"- a rumbustious, rollicking, raunch of piece and a story about knocking on windows late at night in her birthday suit and borrowed coat...
For me, it was a good opportunity to spruke "100 Stories for Queensland" [all monies going to flood victims] and "Stories for Sendai" [launching 30th June, all monies going to Japan's tsunami survivors, some of whose stories are included]. Both books are available from Amazon and The Book Depository. I read "Her Ladyship Awaits..." [loosely based on a true story] from "100 Stories for Queensland" and "Soup", first published in Rose and Thorn and now also available in "Pot Luck" edited by Chris Bartholomew, Static Movement, USA.

Udderly Amazing! interview by Jesse Grayson of Channel 10, News at 5

2011-05-29T05:01:00.000-07:00

Using MS Word to Auto-Outline and Keep Track of Revelations

2011-05-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

Using MS Word to Auto-Outline and Keep Track of Revelations
Excellent blog article for Word users - writers in particular!

Twisted Velvet Chains!

2011-04-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Jessica Ball's new collection of poems is now out! Check it out on Good Reads. My review link: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/162967921

Review by J.R.McRae - "Letters from the Asylum", poetry by John Knight

2010-12-27T03:28:00.000-08:00

Letters from the Asylum by John Knight

Review by J.R.McRae

I generally read collections of poetry randomly. This gives me, I feel, better access to the variant moods of the poet. If you like, I feel I am looking over his/her shoulder unexpected and capturing something extra, something they may not have imagined was about to break lose from their verse.

Look at this will you…
Pages 74 and 75 …the juxtaposition is something alone to mull over!

On facing pages we have the ultimate still life, a dead swaggy with all the irony of the ‘life’ his death is giving –

“white ants built a nest in his head.”

And the opposite page is “affirmation” with its powerful and wryly inspirational second last line -

“Maybe it’s time to send flowers to yourself,“

Here is something more than poetry, it is the mirror our words create in themselves, between themselves and up to us.

Let’s jump to John’s remembrances of his parents. Poor souls who love to give us life and then try… all their lives to live up to our expectations, live down our excesses.

Remembrances ”Seventy-Three Years” Page 21
and the wedding portrait’s
due formality can’t hide his chin, her smile,
their hope.

Only a child can censor a parent’s wedding photo and comment with a soft, sly touch. Then there are the death watch poems. The angst is gone, a sad humour remains. They are his parents. He has forgiven them. Now he stands beside them and slowly notes the last details of their existence…. It is almost excruciating.

“blind worm and greedy time’s decay” Page 20

1979 Oliver William Knight

I scraped the stubborn blade
across my father’s face
at his request. My sister’s hair
fell on his chest. My mother
held his hand and willed him life.
‘I want to wee,’ he whispered half-asleep.

1993 Blanche Marybelle Thirza Knight

Blind worm and greedy time’s decay
may waste that shrivelled womb and foul
the withered breast. Where I once sucked,
and on the arm that cradled me
vile cankers spread. But the raven hair
you shook out for his pleasuring
endures, and the plain ring on your finger.

Let’s travel on.

Pulped Fiction [P. 26] is a series of awfully pointedly observed images, pinned together to and irony and build to a painful insight – the sort that makes you stop mid laugh and cry.

The last lines sum it up perfectly –

… And last week, when I sent flowers
to the woman I love, her brother’s dog bit the delivery boy.
Is the universe trying to tell me something?

On the opposite page [P. 27] is one of the most beautiful and poignant poems I have ever read on suicide, “The People You Leave Behind”. I can’t pick out just one image. They are all inextricably linked and carry the reader like a gradually building wave towards the crash onshore.

Pages 32 and 33 are experimental verse – shaped and extravaganced. Do they work? I think so. They are John playing at being John – a sort of dress rehearsal for the main act.

Where will we go now…. We’ll have a “meeting in the op shop of desire” … [Page 46] What are titles for – to say more. They introduce, sum up and are the neon lit ad enticing us into their dark underground. This title does it well.

The poem flits like a moth in dark places looking for the deadly candle light.
“The trick is not to get yourself... deleted.”
Along the way, we play with rhyme schemes to emphasis the rhythm in this dance macabre.

War poems, replete with headlined images and the harsh economy of words that only works when too much is too much, these are terse yet tender. These are voyeur and would be peace worker trying to do their bit. The four stark poems on pages 64 to 65 are must read.

Philosophising on life and everything else is best done succinctly. John achieves this, reflecting on the sad state of politics in “The Day After”
“we woke up sad and sorry
but the sun was still there.”
[page 84] and everything else [page 85] in “there is a light”. “I have given my days blindly” and “now the Earth beckons…”

A perfect ending to the collection is not on page 94 but on page 90, “peace”.
I love every line of this little gem, so I reproduce it entire –

this house has
peace in its
timber, the slow
blowfly hums
peace, the pines
and the clean sky
echo peace, the
kingfisher calls
peace and the
water breaking on
the flat sand
sings

Taupo Bay
Tai Tokerau

As this is likely, alas, to be John’s final collection, I have added some excerpts from his ‘Introduction”.
Extracts: [Page 11] For the greater part of my adult life, I have experienced recurrent
severe depression — in the clinical as well as the popular sense of the
term — alternating with shorter periods of considerable exhilaration.

The association of depression with creativity is not uncommon,
and a substantial number of artists and thinkers are said to have been
affected by it.

My own experience suggests that it is in the shift from one state to the
other (either manic or depressive) that creativity finds purchase;

And on “the process of writing” [Page 14]
there comes a time, if the work is to have its own
veridicality, its own conviction, when it starts to speak back to me
so to speak. It assumes an independent existence, and tells me what
it will be. [Page 15] Out of it I seek to … assert an identity—this person, John Knight—and thus discover, uncover, recover an essential me.

Letters from the Asylum, Sudden Valley Press, Christchurch, NZ, 2009 ISBN 978-0-9582091-9-9 by John Knight

Availability: From John Knight, 38 Suncroft St., Mt Gravatt, 4122. $20.00 including postage within Australia. $A20 plus $5 p&p overseas, payment by paypal or direct deposit.

View all my reviews

Poetry Magazines, Presses & related promotional sites

2010-11-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

Poetry Magazines and Publishers and Promoters of Poetry on FaceBook & elsewhere – please feel free to add to this evolving list!

Adirondack Review – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1606723468 

Ahadada Books – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547067182 

Anhinga Press – http://www.facebook.com/anhingapress 

Apex Reviews – http://www.facebook.com/apexreviews 

Australian Poetry Centre – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1437276855 

Around Poetry – http://www.facebook.com/around.poetry 

Artifice Mag – http://www.facebook.com/artificemag 

Askew Poetry Journal – on FaceBook 

Australian Book Review – on FaceBook Australian Poetry – on FaceBook 

Bellevue Literary Press – on FaceBook Bellevue Literary Review – on FaceBook 

Black Coffee Press – on FaceBook Black Lawrence Press – on FaceBook 

Blood Lotus Journal – http://www.facebook.com/bloodlotusjournal 

Blueorangepublishing Ceret – FaceBook 

Boa Editions – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1021828669 

Broadsided Press – on FaceBook 

Brownstone Press – on FaceBook 

Burnside Review – on FaceBook 

Carcanet Press – on FaceBook 

Comma Press – on FaceBook 

Coffee House Press – http://www.facebook.com/CoffeeHousePress 

Copperfield Review – on FaceBook

 Covert Press – on FaceBook 

Dark Coast Press – on FaceBook – 

SDivan – http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/Courses/CI/Pages/divan.aspx 

Dusie Press – on FaceBook 

ElephantEars Press – on FaceBook 

Ethical Poets – on FAceBook 

Farrago Poetry – on FaceBook 

Finishing Line Press – on FaceBook 

Five Islands Press – on Face Book – http://www.fiveislandspress.com/ 

Fulcrum Books – on FaceBook 

FullofCrow Press – on FaceBook 

Fushicho Imprint – on FaceBook

 Guernica Mag – on FaceBook

 Guildhall Press – on FaceBook 

Hande Book Publishers – on FaceBook 

Harper Imprint on FaceBook Haibun Today – http://haibuntoday.blogspot.com 

Indiana Review on FaceBook 

Indie Lit – on FaceBook IP [Interactive Press] – http://www.ipoz.biz/ 

Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics – onFaceBook 

John F. Blair Publisher – on FaceBook

 Kilmog Press – on FaceBook Kore Press – women’s writing – articles, stories, poetry http://www.facebook.com/korepress http://www.korepress.org/about.htm Leucrota Press – on FaceBook

 Luciole Press – on FaceBook 

Manic D Press – on FaceBook 

Mascara Literary Review – on FaceBook

Meanjin – on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meanjin-Quarterly/49183750265?ref=ts&v=wall

 Midway Journal – on FaceBook

 Missing Spoke Press – on FaceBook

 Naugatuck River Review – on FaceBook 

Neopoiesis Press -http://www.facebook.com/neopoiesispress 

Next Wave – on FaceBook 

On a Shoestring – on FaceBook 

Outsider Writers – on FaceBook 

Overland Literary Journal – on FaceBook 

Overlook Press – on FaceBook

 Pale House – on FaceBook

 Paper Wasp, Australian Haiku Journal – Janice Bostock – on MySpace 

Poem a Day – on FaceBook Poetry Pulse.com – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000917025873 

Poetry N Prose – on FaceBook 

Quadrant – online and in hard copy – on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quadrant/104045959633305?ref=ts 

Quick Fiction – on FaceBook 

Rattapallax Press – on FaceBook 

Raw Poetry – http://www.facebook.com/rawpoetry 

Red Hen Press – on FaceBook 

Red Room – on FaceBook 

Ripples – ripplesmagazine@gmail.com 

Salmon Poetry – on FaceBook – http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=207&a=88 

Sandstone Press – on FaceBook 

Sentient Publications – on FaceBook 

Silenced Press – on FaceBook 

Small Change Press – on MySpace – http://www.smallchangepress.com.au 

Speed Poets – on MySpace – anotherlostshark.com 

The Mozzie – Ron Heard & Bill Henderson [on LinkedIn.com] 

Southerly Journal – on FaceBook 

Stone Bridge Press – on FaceBook 

Sugar House Review – on FaceBook 

The Toronto Quarterly – on FaceBook 

Tlon Books Publishing – on FaceBook

 Trailer Park Quarterly – on FaceBook 

UAkron Press – on FaceBook 

University of Alabama Press – on FaceBook 

Untitled Pocketbook – on FaceBook

 Upthestaircase Quarterly – on FaceBook

 Virgogray Press – on FaceBook 

Voicebox Freemantle – on FaceBook 

WA POETS – on FaceBook 

Wakefield Press – on Facebook 

Wired Ruby Literary Zine – on FaceBook 

Word Jammin’ – on FaceBook 

Writers Hub – on FaceBook 

Writers News Show – on FaceBook

If your site is not listed, either I have not yet found you or you have not yet ‘accepted’ my friend request!

"MIRROR" by Jeannie Baker

2010-10-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Mirror by Jeannie Baker

In her new book, "Mirror", Jeannie celebrates the differences that makes up the diversity of world cultures and the elements that unite us, the bonds of family and the mundanities of every day life.

Even the presentation, as two books united within one cover, highlights 'same and different', but highlights it in a way that draws us closer to both families, the traditional Moroccan family and the modern Australian family.

Turning pages of each book simultaneously, reveals parallel aspects of the daily lives of these very different families. We see them with the intimacy and immediacy of a fly on the wall. They are at work, at meals, settling for the night, shopping and sharing. The colours are luminous and the details absorptive. Words are superfluous!

I have always been a fan of Jeannie Baker's beautiful, evocative, detailed collages. This latest book is a treasure!

"Mirror" by Jeannie Baker, Walker Books, ISBN 978-1-4063-0914-0.

View all my reviews

Toxicity of Pearls

2010-03-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

This poem made the front cover of "Ripples". Pearls have their beginnings in a living creature that is trying to cope with an unnatural irritant. How many poems start with an experience that is unpleasant, grievous or traumatic?

Animated documentary - Gary Garner- Through the Eyes of Madness

2008-11-10T02:23:00.000-08:00

Through the Eyes of Madness-G.Garner- animated-doco.

My partner found this on YouTube. I thought it was artistically interesting and poetically shaped both in words and visuals so I'm passing it on.

The Mortician's Art , by J.R.McRae '08

2008-11-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

The morning comes

But dawns no more for you

Tamora Hutt …

++++----++++----

Whose tears will rain on your unnurtured form

Child-woman

Frail as daylilies

And short-lived.

++++----++++----

I have no history just my art

And a photograph to guide my careful strokes –

Who is this with you princess, smiling then,

Where is he now?

Will he follow in train your final carriage ride,

Snow White that never was a fairytale bride?

++++----++++----

The tracery of veins still blue, the skin …

No line or wrinkle, smooth as ice

Is cold – how old were you?

++++----++++----

For whom do I apply my art?

The man in his designer suit who’ll pay the bill,

The woman with sculpted nails and face,

Who hurried on to some other place,

++++----++++----

But dropped in the dress

So tissue fine and snowflake white

(Was it last night?) –

For you Tamora Hutt I hide the bruising, mend

The broken skin and blend

The colours of my palette to disguise

The horrors drowned within your eyes.

++++----++++----

I am your bridesmaid, I’ll attend you well –

No tears now child, no tears, not ever again,

They shall not see the desolation of your final hours

I have repaired

You to your bridal bower –

Rest now …

Teachers' Notes & Resources

2008-11-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Teachers notes are available FREE on request for any of my material, provided that, in the case of an educational institution, the remuneration notice is in place with CAL as below.

NOTE: The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows 10% of the number of words on this website to be reproduced and/or communicated by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. HOWEVER, IF PERMISSION IS SOUGHT FROM THE AUTHOR, further copying may be permitted provided the afore mentioned remuneration notice has been sent to CAL. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 9394 7600 Facsimile: (02) 9394 7601 E-mail: info@copyright.com.au Except as permitted under the Act (for example for the services of the Crown or in reliance on one of the fair dealing exceptions i.e. fair dealing for the purposes of research or study) no part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the copyright owner at thinkincau@yahoo.com or jennifer.poulter@gmail.com with 'copyright' in the subject line.

Mayhem

2008-09-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

Writing is a way of surviving, of dealing with the world, of trying to get an objective perspective on the in your face.
The poetry here is not lovely and warm and furzy but then the title should have told you that.

Tracks, J.R.McRae

The sand wavers near the water,

Pushed to the brink

Where tracks wash out.

Skin slides down the elements tracking the sun,

Cloth waves loose

Flirting with bodies beneath.

He’s different.

Up on the grass

He lets the wind cut through his shirt,

Long sleeves to hide the tracks

Where he’s been.