Tag Archives: Book

Acknowledgements, Amazon Parrot, Writers and Support

My Dedication and Acknowledgement

May 25, 2013 NewEngland_Muse Leave a comment

thank_you_note

By the end of this year I will have a couple of short books online and one in the bookstores. Part of that involves coming up with a dedication and an acknowledgement for each one. Granted this is not required. But for me it is necessary. For “Jasper, Amazon Parrot:ARainforest Adventure” the dedication is easy. I will be dedicating the book to Jasper. Without his personality this book would not have been written.

But now comes the joy of acknowledging everyone who has helped me. That is a long list. Longer then I thought once I started writing down the names.

-My editor Nancy who is an amazing woman. I am so fortunate to have her.

-My friend Ami who helped me with my query letter. The same letter that got my MS into the door to be read. If this letter is not spot on you are dead in the water

-My sister Karen who loaned me her daycare so the children could read the book. This was perfect for beta reading.

-I have my writings groups all of which have helped me in one way or another with edits and suggestions.

-A publisher by the name of Mike who even though rejected my submission filled it with so much positivity I framed it. In that letter he gave me the three reasons why they did not pick up Jasper. I revised it according to his recommendations and two submissions later the book got picked up. Even though Mike will not be publishing Jasper he deserves a lot of credit for this book

-I have the numerous people on my Twitter account, FB profile page and this site alone who have encourage me and lifted me back up.

-I have my friend Debbie who believed in me from the moment she read the very first draft of Jasper. Who knew ,according to her, this book was going to be published.

-Melanie my publisher who believes in my book and shares my vision for it.

The list goes on. I am surrounded by a large group of people who have helped me get to this point. So writing a dedication is not easy if you want to do it right. And you should for you did not get to this point alone, I didn’t.

Amazon Parrot, Author, Manuscript

Falling in love with your MS again

April 16, 2013 NewEngland_Muse 6 Comments

Have you ever picked up a MS that has been laying dormant and fall in love with it all over again? I use to think when I did that perhaps I was being conceited. That was until I wrote this on my author page on FB and learned that was not the case. In fact one person wrote, “If you don’t love your work who will?”

And that solidified it. Working on Vol 2 of my Jasper, Amazon Parrot series I realized it would be a good idea to reread the first one so I could bridge the two together. Sitting down on the couch I got my Pepsi and started to read. It had been a while since I had done this and I fell in love all over again. I laughed at the same spots, I smirked at the reactions of some of the characters and just truly enjoyed the read. There has been an occasion where a friend had read this MS out loud to me so I could catch anything that would need to be fixed. Instead I ended up laughing and then out of the blue it hit me. I wrote this, me.

I truly love this book. I have lived and breathed this MS for a few years now. I think as authors we need to fall in love all over again with our works. Not just a few times but down the road pick it up and enjoy the words you wrote. Enjoy the adventure that falls off the page. If you don’t, like that comment suggested, who else will? We have to enjoy what we do and trust me it will show on the pages whether the words are works of love or just a task that was done.

Case in point is another MS that I will be submitting soon, “Squirrel Mafia”which is a true story of the war between the squirrels in my back yard versus me. It makes me giggle and I hope it will make others laugh out loud for that was the point of the book. This is my first attempt at true humor. But most important it was a labor of time, effort and love over a topic that was just so much fun to write about.

I truly hope my fellow writers and bloggers that when you put words down that you are having a good time, enjoying what you are doing and absolutely having fun. It makes all the difference in the world. And if you can do that the words will shine through to others.