Tag Archives: Fiction

Authors, Reading, Writing

Defending my authors

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jamesPatterson

I read a lot of books and will collect them from authors I adore. The list includes James Patterson, Stephen King, Bentley Little and Agatha Christie. I am always on the lookout for a “new” author to discover and enjoy. At the moment it is Jason Pinter. My bookcases are pretty tight. I have six bookcases, four in my office, one in the sun room and one in the garage that I have to make room for. I won’t even bring up how many my husband has.

And while I love the authors above, it goes beyond that. I will defend them against people who belittle them. They and I have a loving relationship as I refer to them as James, Stephen, Bentley and Ms. Agatha. As many as I own, some the entire collection, I feel I have earned it.

Not everyone agrees with the choices of books I treasure. That is okay, everyone has different taste. However there are a few writers in my writing groups that have sneered at Patterson and King. My friends know, even if they agree with the sneers, to not bring this up with me. I will stop mid-step and look at them. They know I am gearing up for an argument.

The remarks have been that they are relics and they are not great writers. This last reference was to James. I explained that his style was more along the lines of story telling which is not an easy thing to do successfully. But my words have always fallen by the waste side.

I tried a different approach now. With them being writers who are trying to make it big, I say this instead, “When you become as successful as King and Patterson, then we will talk. When you can command the contracts they have, I will sit down with you and we can compare notes. But until then, I don’t want, no that isn’t right, I won’t hear of it.”

That tends to slow people down. I try my best to not belittle authors that are out there. Whether I like their writings or not is really a moot point. They are doing what they love and being a success at it. Who am I to toss darts? They are doing what I am trying to do. For me, I say more power to them. Congratulations. Hopefully I will get there where we can have a round table discussion on the writing. Until then to the writers who belittle the ones doing it well, I say back off. And only come back when you are in a position to talk.

 

Author Sharon C. Williams, Book Reviewer, Books

Book Reviewer: Me

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2014-04-28 11.52.25

I have been reviewing for Booksneeze since 2010. Since I started, I have reviewed quite a number of books. Some from BS while others from authors who have heard that I offer this service for free. That’s right, for free. I now review for three sites and on my own.

Over the years the rules on how I place a review has changed as I come across people who give me reasons to do so. The rules are very specific, and only after an author agrees to the rules, and if I have time, will I say yes.

-I had one author send me an email and it said,” Where do I send my book?” What the heck? Manners would be nice, it is truly not asking a lot to be asked I think.

-I have had a person, after I read her book, say that if the review was going to be less than a three to not place it at all. I was pissed. I had taken time to read this book and to be told this made me see red.

– I have had authors ask for me to review all their books.

-I have had authors want to see the review and when seeing it have asked for me to change it.

– Last week I had someone ask me to not only review their book but would I purchase it so it be a verified purchase on Amazon. I had to admit I was taken back. The price was under a dollar so I did the purchase. But it was the first and will be the last time I do that. I broke my own rules. I receive all books for free. But considering that a review is coming out of it, I consider that a fair exchange.

Recently I found out my site has been placed on a listing for people who review. I was not asked but I didn’t mind. That was before I received an onslaught of people asking for me to review, and some of them not wanting to play by the rules. Some of the authors got down right mean when I refused to review three of their books in a row on my site. I said I would review their books but one at a time so the other people asking would get a turn. They were not happy. But we all know we can’t make everyone happy.

People are funny. I get it. Reviews are important to writers. Their important to me as well. But there is this little thing called courtesy. Use them people. I have the right to say no when you ask me to review for you. I am a writer myself and my time is hectic like everyone else. Courtesy is repaid with courtesy.

These are my rules for how I review a book. Am I being fair? I believe so.

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"Squirel Mafia", Author Sharon C. Williams, Writing projects

Topics for Writers

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chap13

My editor has been working on my novel “Squirrel Mafia” for a small while now. It will be a book that I will self publish instead of trying for a publisher. The story started a few years ago when I observed the squirrels in my back yard. While I use to think squirrels were cute and even adorable, I no longer feel this way. They are evil little rodents who love to plaque Jasper and me.

What will be a bit different from my other writings is there will be pictures in each chapter. Ones that I shot myself in the area I live in. I am super excited to get it on the market and for people to learn about these creatures in a way they may never have heard off.

The joy of being a writer. We can write about anything that comes in our path or in our mind. The small and the big and the in between can all be wrapped up onto pages between a book. Isn’t that great? I surely think so. My list of ideas of things to write on grows just about every day. Some are ideas that probably won’t see the light but that’s okay. So long my brain is thinking, plotting and wondering on what to write next that is the best part.

So yes I wrote a book about squirrels and how they are not what they seem. It is dark humor, no one gets hurt in the book, but I hope people will enjoy the sarcasm that is placed inside. I had a lot of fun writing it especially since the motivation was definitely there. Who knew when I started writing this would end up as one of my story lines? I surely didn’t. All it took was for me to look outside my window and the idea came on its own.

Lesson learned. Look around you, pay attention, get out and see what is going on outside your four walls. The ideas will come in boatloads if not more. It is so much fun when an idea comes that I just want to stop and write about it. The only problem is having too many ideas that I can’t possible get it all done in a decent amount of time. But it is a good thing to have more ideas than not enough, right?

“Squirrel Mafia” will be out in a bit but while I wait I am working on my apocalyptic YA book, “Lost Faith” and my third book in my Jasper series. If I only knew how much fun it would be to be a writer, I would definitely have started sooner.