tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34777125093625912552024-03-13T07:01:42.750-07:00MayhemJ.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-12517815101486822112014-06-26T20:20:00.001-07:002014-06-26T20:20:52.946-07:00Jessica Bell, Blog Tour! http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/sign...<a href="http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/sign-up-to-the-white-lady-blog-tour.html">http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/sign...</a>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-3610916702283167862012-10-25T05:32:00.001-07:002012-10-25T05:37:52.609-07:00A Writer's pick me up - Jillian Medoff: Turn around champion<a href="http://querytracker.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/jillian-medoff-from-flattened-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+QueryTracker+%28QueryTracker+Blog%29" target="_blank">Jillian Medoff's experience</a> would have to be deserving of 'classic' status as a turning of a sink hole to success story! <br />
There are so many tales of woe ranging from "The dog ate my manuscript" to having your book accepted only to have the publisher go bankrupt, to finding there was a story uncannily like yours out there, released same time as yours but with a big budget campaign to support it and the ultimate ARRGH! The publisher turns out to be scammy. Everyone has their own personal horror story. So this blog from Query Tracker on Jillian Medoff's turn around is the sort of thing we creatives need - a virtual shot in the arm!<br />
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The history of literature has numbers of these 'turn around stories'. "Lord of the Rings" was rejected many, many time before finding a home.<br />
"Harry Potter" was passed over by 12 publishers.<br />
"Lord of the Flies" got 21 rejections before William Golding found an editor who 'got' his book!<br />
Jerzy Kosinski's extraordinary experiment with <a href="http://www.onehundredrejections.com/2012/05/rejection-68-steps-experiment.html" target="_blank">his own bestseller, "Steps" </a>is a frightening reality check and at the same time a jab with a cattle prod reminder to 'persist, persist, persist' and never give up!<br />
<br />
The wonderful and the terrible thing about the arts is that it is so sensitive to the whims of personal taste. This means that <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lml45lghk/lord-of-the-rings-jrr-tolkien/" target="_blank">what is good may not immediately be recognised</a> as such and what is bad may become popular. BUT it also means you are in there with a chance because someone, somewhere is sure to LOVE your work! It Tolkien, Golding, Nabokov and Rowling, to name a few, had given up, our literature would be so very much the poorer!<br />
<br />
Read more extraordinary stories of how authors turned 'NO!" in to "YE$" on <a href="http://www.onehundredrejections.com/2010/07/famous-rejection-of-day.html" target="_blank">One Hundred Famous Rejections.</a> Read and be encouraged!<br />
<br />
Great sites to warn the unseasoned of what to look out for on the road to publication include -<br />
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ and http://pred-ed.com/<br />
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<br />J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-34370950801629094772012-10-25T03:43:00.001-07:002012-10-25T03:43:48.211-07:00QueryTracker Blog: Jillian Medoff: From Flattened to Fabulous<a href="http://querytracker.blogspot.com/2012/10/jillian-medoff-from-flattened-to.html?spref=bl">QueryTracker Blog: Jillian Medoff: From Flattened to Fabulous</a>: By Sarah Pinneo | @SarahPinneo If you stick around the Query Tracker community long enough, you’ll hear many a story of dogged persist...J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-12419269063864657842012-03-16T03:26:00.001-07:002012-03-16T03:26:58.567-07:00More brilliant work from a Master Illustrator - Bernhard Oberdieck - Illustration: E-Book - Story Map Cover<a href="http://kibook.blogspot.com/2012/01/e-book-story-map-cover.html?spref=bl">Bernhard Oberdieck - Illustration: E-Book - Story Map Cover</a>: Nun ist es soweit. Mein erstes E-Book App ist im Apple App Store erhältlich. Es ist zunächst das Grimm Märchen "Die Bremer Stadtmusika...<br />
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This stunning book is also in hardcopy as well!<br />
To read more about Bernhad's wonderful work, read my interview with him on my blog -http://jrpoulter.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/bernhard-oberdieck-leading-german-illustrator-creator-of-childrens-classics/<br />
and my review of his book collaboration, "Cat's Concert" - http://jrpoulter.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/cats-concert-latest-modern-classic-by-bernhard-oberdieck-to-hit-the-shelves/<br />
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Enjoy! :)J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-69482218219358321432012-02-17T01:50:00.000-08:002012-02-17T01:50:16.895-08:00A new take on the 'sea-change' theme - Black Cow<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13485635-black-cow" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Black Cow" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329288806m/13485635.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13485635-black-cow">Black Cow</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/700078.Magdalena_Ball">Magdalena Ball</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/279126097">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Maggie Ball’s Black Cow is an honest take on mid life crisis and the need to redefine who we are and why the #@&! we are here anyway’. Maggie’s pull no punches, no holds barred approach leaves you feeling you have looked like peeping tom’s over the shoulders of her characters into their inner sanctums and watched them sink, swim and drag themselves ashore spitting weed. This is an honest to goodness look at ‘sea-change’ warts and all for which Maggie is to be roundly congratulated!<br />
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1659618-jennifer">View all my reviews</a><br />
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<br /></div>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-37058551232465570112012-01-29T18:20:00.001-08:002012-01-29T18:22:43.778-08:00How to convert Kindle files to Epub [by Hettie Ashwin]<a href="http://hettieashwin.blogspot.com/2012/01/convert-kindle-to-epub.html?spref=bl" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">~PEN TO PAPER~: How to convert kindle AWZ files to Epub for generi...</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">: 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...</span>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-31057152706335443312012-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:002012-01-19T20:00:41.001-08:00Kathy's Library: All in the Woods (Book Review)<a href="http://kathyhsreviews.blogspot.com/2012/01/all-in-woods-book-review.html?spref=bl">Kathy's Library: All in the Woods (Book Review)</a>: Title: All in the Woods Author: J R Poulter Illustrator: Linda Gunn Source: From author for review Goodreads Summary: 'All in the Woo...<br />
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Buy it on Amazon and <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/All-Woods-Poulter/9780956036353" target="_blank">BookDepository.com</a> </div>
J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-50865559037839379072011-11-19T18:15:00.001-08:002012-02-11T03:37:27.649-08:00GRIEF WRITING<br />
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">GRIEF
WRITING – J.R.Poulter<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US">What is Grief Writing and Why it is useful:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Grief writing is a tool, one tool among
many to use -</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">as a coping mechanism, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">as a survival mechanism, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">as a release</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">as a celebration of a life lost
or a trauma survived. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It is a means of coming to terms with
traumatic events – death, dying as with the eating, gradual death of cancer,
loss, suicide, disappearance as when a loved one goes missing, injury and
disablement. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C2XS2njGw5I/TzZSV3erkiI/AAAAAAAAA_A/5ZE_cvjdf7k/s1600/SOS-Mourning-Tea-MHW-9.10.11-green.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C2XS2njGw5I/TzZSV3erkiI/AAAAAAAAA_A/5ZE_cvjdf7k/s320/SOS-Mourning-Tea-MHW-9.10.11-green.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US">It can be a path out of depression and
through the ocean of seemingly insurmountable grief. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The saying ‘a problem shared is a problem
halved’ applies in all instances involving grief and trauma. Sharing with someone you know and trust
is important. If no access to such a person or to counseling is available, grief
writing will help you exteriorise, unburden, cope. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">A bit about my own background and how
writing has helped me:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">My relationship as a child and young person
with my mother was a role reversal. My mother suffered deep-seated depression
caused by very severe, sustained sibling abuse, throughout her very traumatic
childhood. At certain times of year, depression took over. I was confidante and
comforter. This started when I was about 4 years old. Writing quickly became my
survival tool. Who are you going to confide in when it is your mother who is
the one heaping on the emotional and psychological burdens? I confided in
prayers and in my writing.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">“Mending Lucille”, my book that won the
Crichton in 2009, grew partially out of my experiences with my own family. My
mother never left physically, but from an emotional standpoint, from a
mothering standpoint, she was never able to be there for me. My father tried
but he had suffered too, a nervous breakdown after World War II that was
directly related to his war time experiences as a bomber pilot and
calculatingly self-obsessed parents who sent him to boarding school almost from
the start of primary. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">My first writings were plays that I put on
with the neighbourhood children. Friends an relatives were the audience. Later
came poetry, later still children’s books and books for education and, more
recently, short stories. I am teaching myself script writing.</span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US">How to use Grief Writing:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US">Journaling – <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US">Keys to get started -<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><b><i><span lang="EN-US">Collage Key</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US"> - Letting it go, letting it flow – <i>cut words</i> that relate to you, to your situation out of a magazine
or newspaper. Take a large sheet of paper – butcher’s paper or newspaper
off-cut and colour large blobs of colour/or paint/ or paste scraps of coloured
paper. Paste the cut out words on the colour that matches for you. This is
important - 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 to
that word. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><b><i><span lang="EN-US">Stream of Consciousness</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US"> - With those words as stimuli, put pen to paper/fingers to keyboard
with <i>stream of consciousness writing</i>.
This means putting pen to paper and just writing - all your feelings, thoughts, fears, doubts, memories. Do
not worry about punctuation, spelling or grammar - just write. If writing is
too daunting straight off, then speak your feelings into a recorder then
transcribe.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Later, can be
minutes to months later – go back, read it, punctuate, edit grammar. Then read
it out loud or have someone close to you read it. This step helps place the
anguish beyond you, outside of you, helps you to see where you are in the
context of what you are experiencing with more clarity. It gives perspective, enables
grater objectivity. It helps you see how far your have moved from hurt to
healing. It also acts as a
reference point for further writing.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><b><i><span lang="EN-US">Memories & Memorabilia</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US"> - Collect together memorabilia of your life as it was impacted by
the person and / or event that is the focal point of your grief. Write down
words that strongly connect you to the person/event. Write down words that
describe those words.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Collect together
memorabilia of anything ‘good’ / life affirming, anything that helped sustain
you through the grieving process. Write down the words, descriptions of any
images, that most strongly connect you to the person or event that is the
source of your grief.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-US">Affirmation – </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Redo the stream of consciousness step with
memorabilia around you and fresh in mind, then shape the resulting writing into
a prose piece or poem. Turn it into a Poster Poem by illustrating it with
photographs, craft work, collage or your own drawings. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Journal a piece that encapsulates where you
are now and what lies ahead that you hope for. Thank those who have helped you
survival thus far. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Keep all your poems or prose pieces
together and periodically review them. This is your journey in writing. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US">Forgiveness<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Forgive others their part objective or
subjective; forgive yourself your part objective or subjective. Releasing
yourself and others enables you to move on with your life, to move to the next
stage of writing. This in NO WAY negates what has happened to cause your grief
in the first place. This in NO way negates the abuser’s culpability. This step will enable you to more
effectively, one day, reach out and help others.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US">The Craft of Writing <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Think of the sound words make and the
images they evoke – words like ‘cut’, ‘hack’ are not gentle in sound or
meaning. Words like ‘snow’ and ‘grass’ have a flow to them that suggests
covering. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Try using poetic devices like <i>onomatopoeia </i>[sound echoing sense, e.g.,
feathery soft, the eider down settled] and <i>simile</i>
[this is like that, e.g., fleece white as snow], <i>metaphor</i> [saying this is that, e.g., the gold-haired sun] or <i>transferred </i>epithet [giving human
characteristics to inanimate
objects or nonhuman life forms e.g., the door stubbornly stuck fast] in
your writing to add impact. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Use <i>haiku
</i>– the traditional three-line Japanese verse form of 5 syllables, 7
syllables, 5 syllables - to tighten and focus your expression. Not one word is
wasted in haiku.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Read what you have written out loud. Your
ear will sense where the flow of your writing needs to be smoothed further or
perhaps to be interrupted, punctuated to create shorter sentences for added
dramatic effect. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Collect your writings together into a
folder and desktop them into a
keepsake booklet. Microsoft
Publisher, 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 so
on. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Two examples from my own writing – my
eldest son lost three friends within 18 months in horror road crashes.</span></div>
<h4>
Field Surgeon Remembering, [in Small
Packages]</h4>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">From his garden, he hears young men prowl
in their cars,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Arms captured in a circling crush,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Hears their music blasting,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Down the
stethoscope the beat is strong.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They U with screaming rubber.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He begins again, the third time tonight,
the needle circling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The metal cut deep in. The wound is sutured
over staying the scar.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He wonders, from his garden, if the tank
tracks are</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Still there, snailing among the rosy flesh.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He remembers the bodies and how he stitched</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Deliberate tank tracks across the skin,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The needle circling, the thread drawing
torn flesh together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He thinks, “there is no perfect rose.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Slaughter
House Road by J.R.McRae [<i>in Speed Poets]</i></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Ten miles down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Slaughterhouse Road,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">A cemetery -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Three crosses with their plastic flowers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">On the home run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">John,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">The steering wheel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Crushing his sternum to spine,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Marie,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">With glass shards <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Through her jugular,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">And little Daisy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Thrown<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Three meters into the tall grass,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Dying for 24 hours before<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Joe, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">On his way home,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Saw the wreck<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">And called 000 too late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Joe's wife, Amelia,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Put the crosses there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">For pity's sake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Joe put the flowers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">From the refectory<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">At the Slaughterhouse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US">My websites:
<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.jenniferrpoulter.weebly.com/">www.jenniferrpoulter.weebly.com</a>,
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.jrmcrae-subversive.weebly.com/">www.jrmcrae-subversive.weebly.com</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><br clear="ALL" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US">LINKS:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Some examples – Journal writing</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/journaling/">http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/journaling/</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://journalforyou.com/tag/journaling/">http://journalforyou.com/tag/journaling/</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">c.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm">http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">d.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.createwritenow.com/journaling-tips/">http://www.createwritenow.com/journaling-tips/</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">e.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://inspiredtojournal.net/">http://inspiredtojournal.net/</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Some web examples of Grief Writing/blogging</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.guyfinley.org/free-content/writings/q-and-a/387">http://www.guyfinley.org/free-content/writings/q-and-a/387</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.barbarabrabec.com/writing_publishing/Writing-as-Therapy.htm">http://www.barbarabrabec.com/writing_publishing/Writing-as-Therapy.htm</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/26004-beyond-grief">http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/26004-beyond-grief</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://thenightifollowedtheblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-grief-writing-through-pain.html">http://thenightifollowedtheblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-grief-writing-through-pain.html</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://conversationswithteddy.com/thoughts/">http://conversationswithteddy.com/thoughts/</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span lang="EN-US">Further Reading:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Karen O. Johnson, <i>Griefabet </i>– a book of survival and coping strategies – wise,
‘wonder’ full, whimsical and life affirming - small tactics to keep you going.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Madelaine Tasky Sharples, <i>Leaving
the Hall Light On</i> - a family’s
journey back after the suicide of
a severely bipolar son/brother</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Jessica Bell, <i>Twisted Velvet Chains</i> - a chronicling of a daughter’s
experience growing up with a suicidal, bipolar mother.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Shirley Pitcher, <i>Conversations with Teddy</i> – first in a
series of memoirs about surviving an abusive childhood.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">John Knight, <i>“Letters from the Asylum”</i> – poems from a
poet who fought bipolar all his life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Les Murray, <i>Killing the Black Dog</i> – the poet’s
account of struggling with depression lifelong and poems specially selected by
the poet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-9237854487066617002011-11-19T18:05:00.001-08:002011-11-19T18:10:58.131-08:00REVIEW of "Cleave" by Angela Felsted<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i>Cleave</i> b</span>y Angela Felsted - REVIEW by J.R.McRae </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This first chapbook by Angela is a promise
of more intriguing, achingly revealing, painful and joyous revelations to come.
It is an intensely personal collection. Were it not for the pull of the
wonderful imagery, one might flinch from its almost too acutely drawn accounts.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The loss of a parent – “a man holds a
little girl’s hand” – gives us the pain and self doubt of a child who feels
abandoned by parental separation and yet, in hindsight, cannot deny the
feelings in the last contact and memories invoked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“you think of the hug he ached to give you </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">filled
with sunsets, sandcastles, a warm breeze<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">handfuls
of shells from the sea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">First love laid bare – “under waning
stars” and “she came to you as a
new bride” - in the hands of a much older man, is as much a diary of betrayal
as a rite of passage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“friends, </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">he called us <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
the hushed fervent <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">voice
of a preacher <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">clasping
my body to <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">his,
front against front <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">like
a god fearing man <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">prays
palm against palm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">our
shoes made <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">circles
in the dying <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">leaves.
our friendship <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">dying
with them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Images
of snow/frosting and sunshine/yellow flowers weave through the entire
collection, defining its pages and creating a sense of life in all its
complexity and contradiction.
Some examples follow -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“daffodil
petals unfurling <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">to
the sun, spreading with <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
swell of her stomach” [she cried in to the silver delta]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“they shot <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">through his scalp like new <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">grass, meadows of gold” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">[<a href="" name="_Toc293558883">my grandfather’s
hat hid the best of him</a>]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“her baptism like <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">a
swatch of snow-white cotton, taken from the blanket <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-US">nurses wrapped her in at birth.” [<a href="" name="_Toc293558884">when my daughter moves away from me</a>]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
one of my favourite verses –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“in
the station, a clock strikes two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">on
the platform, snowflakes kiss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">years
from now, the girl will leave home<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
the snowflakes whirling, falling in her hair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">will
mirror the stirrings of her <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">guarded
heart: soft, cold, delicate. “ [a man hold’s a little girl’s hand]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Married
life is shown as a seesaw of love and disaffection - “your truth like a water drop” and “your love like an old well” - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“metal squeals on metal, ropes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">stretch, arms ache. the bucket
creaks as <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">i lift it to my lips, tip back my
face, wait <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">for the life-giving deluge of your
love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">an avalanche of topsoil falls into my
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">mouth. why do i always come back?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then there is the anguish of
motherhood – “if I refused to
cry”, “neurofeedback” and “sitting
in church” – the gigantean effort, the endless wondering and helplessness fed
by censorious others,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“and that’s when i sense it: the
wary gaze of the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">woman in front of us, moving from<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">my brood to her four obedient
daughters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">each with a wide brimmed pale pink
hat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">they fold their hands just like
their mother’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">silent mannequins in a fancy store
window”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US">The collection
starts with “buttercups” and ends with -</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US">“</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">gauzy
in the moon's silver-white rays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">naked skin glowing
as pale frosting “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is a collection that will resonate
with women the world over! But keep tissues by and be prepared for the sharp
sting of recognition.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-83349790977491385792011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:002011-11-11T06:00:06.090-08:00STRING BRIDGE by Jessica Bell, Lucky Press - Amazon chart rush<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aHMUAmaUMG8/Tm9pgLZGU1I/AAAAAAAABNA/DYCjxuCkVk8/s1600/Melody+Hill_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aHMUAmaUMG8/Tm9pgLZGU1I/AAAAAAAABNA/DYCjxuCkVk8/s200/Melody+Hill_front.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">Today is <b>THE </b>day to help <a href="http://www.thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/">Jessica Bell's</a> debut, <st1:place w:st="on"><a href="http://www.stringbridge.com/"><st1:placename w:st="on"><b>STRING</b></st1:placename><b> <st1:placetype w:st="on">BRIDGE</st1:placetype></b></a>,</st1:place> hit
the bestseller list on Amazon, and <b>receive the all-original soundtrack</b>, </span><b><i><a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=465313522">Melody Hill: On the Other Side</a>, </i></b><span lang="EN-GB">written and performed by the author herself, <b>for free</b>!</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB">All you have to do is
<b>purchase the </b></span><b><span lang="EN-US">book</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><b>today </b>(paperback, or eBook), November 11th, and
then email the receipt to:</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com</b></i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>She</b></span><b> will
then email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">To purchase the <b>paperback</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/String-Bridge-Jessica-Bell/dp/0984631747/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_p?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320037590&sr=1-1">Amazon USA</a></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">To purchase the <b>eBook</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/String-Bridge-ebook/dp/B005Y48DF6/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320037590&sr=1-1">Amazon USA</a></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/String-Bridge-ebook/dp/B005Y48DF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319370801&sr=8-1">Amazon UK</a></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit <b><a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=465313522">iTunes</a>.</b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB">If you are
not familiar with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><i>String</i></st1:placename><i> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bridge</st1:placetype></i></st1:place>,
check out the book trailer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Rv-hRMA0kqQ" width="425"></iframe>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Rave Reviews for <i>String Bridg</i>e:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mKVVrpavlxE/TqKnrXV1FAI/AAAAAAAABQs/282SkoYU99E/s1600/String+Bridge+final+cover_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mKVVrpavlxE/TqKnrXV1FAI/AAAAAAAABQs/282SkoYU99E/s320/String+Bridge+final+cover_front.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US">“</span><span lang="EN-GB">Jessica Bell’s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">STRING</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">BRIDGE</st1:placetype></st1:place> strummed the fret of my
veins, 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 of
heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as
with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bell</st1:place></st1:city>’s narrative.</span><span lang="EN-US">” <b>~ Kathryn Magendie, author of <i>Sweetie</i> and Publishing Editor of <i>Rose & Thorn Journal</i></b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">“Poet and
musician Jessica Bell's debut novel <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><i>String</i></st1:placename><i> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bridge</st1:placetype></i></st1:place></span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the
difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout,
seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that
allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world
begins to unravel …</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><i><span lang="EN-GB">String Bridge</span></i><span lang="EN-GB"> is
a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a
hint of magic.” <b>~ Magdalena Ball, author of <i>Repulsion
Thrust</i> and <i>Sleep Before Evening</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">“</span><span lang="EN-GB">Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer
of great skill and depth. </span>She doesn't pull back from the difficult
scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds
barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop
character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel.
<span lang="EN-GB">I look forward to reading her
next novel, and next and next.” </span><span lang="EN-US"><b>~ </b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Karen Jones
Gowen, author of <i>Farm Girl</i>, <i>Uncut Diamonds</i> and <i>House of Diamonds</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Connect with Jessica</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB">:</span></b><br />
<br />
String Bridge: <a href="http://www.stringbridge.com/">http://www.stringbridge.com/</a><br />
Goodreads: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell">http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell</a><br />
Website: <a href="http://www.jessicacbell.com/">http://www.jessicacbell.com/</a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/">http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/</a><br />
Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell">http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell</a><br />
Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell">http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell</a><br />
Publisher: <a href="http://www.luckypress.com/">http://www.luckypress.com</a><br />
<br /></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!</span></b></div>
</div>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-45621550134679353012011-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:002011-11-07T22:20:33.564-08:00Jessica Bell's "String Bridge" just out with Lucky Press - Author interview<style>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IdlBRhxQkL0/TrI-VT0Q5tI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/dS5jghgEo3w/s1600/String-Bridge.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IdlBRhxQkL0/TrI-VT0Q5tI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/dS5jghgEo3w/s320/String-Bridge.png" width="202" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Jessica Bell – interview for ‘String Bridge” by J.R.McRae</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Your music is an important part of your life and the musicality of
words is very evident in your writing.
How much inspiration do you draw from music in your writing? What part
did music play in inspiring and in shaping “String Bridge”?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Even though music doesn’t define me as much as writing does, yes, it
is still a big part of my life. The idea for the book came about when I was
thinking 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 power
music has over someone who is so passionate about it. But I think music could
be replaced by any sort of passion in String Bridge, because basically the
story is about needing something more than you need yourself.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">“String” speaks to me of an unraveling—he deconstruction of a cat’s
cradle /string bridge and, of course, of guitar strings. Was this deliberate?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Absolutely. I wanted the title to symbolize three things:</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Guitar strings, obviously, as this is the instrument Melody plays.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">The bridge of the guitar which keeps the guitar in tune. This also
symbolizes how well Melody stays mentally in tune throughout the story.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">The symbolic bridge Melody has to cross to get where she wants to be
is made of string, meaning it’s not very secure.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">I’ve come to know you through your poetry, which has an edgy rawness
but also a lyricism. How important is your poet’s skill to your author role?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Very important. I don’t think I’d write the way I do if I didn’t
write poetry. I really enjoy embellishing my prose with the perfect sounding
word or phrase. It’s like a game to me sometimes. I have spent hours on one
sentence before. I know that is sort of going too far, but I can’t help it. If
it’s not right, it not right!</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Have you ever found yourself writing a passage and realizing this is
also going to result in a poem?
Can you share some examples?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, yes. One example is the preface to my novel. I never ‘used’ it
as a poem, but it’s definitely very poetic. You can read that <a href="http://www.stringbridge.com/Novel.html">here</a>.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Have any of your existing poems inspired passages or even chapters?
Can you give examples?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Yes. The following poem ended up being morphed into prose in String
Bridge:</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">standing
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">in
the middle </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">of
a field </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">red
dirt </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">distance
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">and
more </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">beyond
it</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">searching
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">for
the end</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">of
distance</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">where
the stars </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">join
to it — pins </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">to
a tent in soil</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">looking
up</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">to
a cluster </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">of
approving eyes </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">lying
naked </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">beneath
them </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">with
him</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">a
silence </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">that
echoes</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">the
touch </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">of
your hand </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">to
his cheek</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">existence
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">being
loud </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">and
small </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">the
way </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">the
Sun </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">lights
up </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">the
Earth</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine
</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">you
are the Earth</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">and
he is the Sun </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">silence
is tangible</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">and
the stars are the souls </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">of
your previous lives</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">that
distance </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">is
the place you’ll find death</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">where
red dirt is your skin</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">and
the field your bones</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Imagine</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">that
love </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="line-height: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">is
the desert</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">All authors bring who they are to their work. How much of who you
are informs your work, your characters?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">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 they
end up doing something completely out of my character. I guess I come and go I
waves. There are moments that reflect me completely and there are others that
are nothing like me.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Do you find you emotionally invest in your characters? Have you
created a character and later felt, oh no, they would not do that, think that,
say that and gone back and reshaped the character accordingly?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Yes. My characters changed in every single draft I wrote.</span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">8.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">What initially inspired you to write “String Bridge’? Or was it a
series of inspirations that came together?</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Definitely a series. It all began with an idea that I wanted to
write a book that was realistic rather than glamorous. There is actually nothing
left in the novel now that was in the first draft. It’s come a very long way
and floated down many different paths during the last five years.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">9.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">I’m interested in the interplay of the skills you have, you are very
multi-skilled! You have written and performed your own soundtrack to “String
Bridge” which will be released at the same time as the book. How do you juggle
the demands of all your creative outlets—music, poetry, performance, writing?
Do you have any tips or tricks you would like to share with readers?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh my gosh. I FAIL at juggling. Believe me, I’m always falling over
my balls and then realize that they belong to someone else. I go through phases
and never focus on more than one thing at one time. It just doesn’t work. And I
think it doesn’t work because I must use different parts of my brain for each. Maybe
each skill does strengthen the other, but it will only intrude if attempted in
the same ‘time period’. So, sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid I don’t have
any tips. I just ‘do’ and then see what happens. And then fix if need be.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">UK Amazon link: </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/String-Bridge-Jessica-Bell/dp/0984631747/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/String-Bridge-Jessica-Bell/dp/0984631747:/</span></a></span>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-17087460073149209562011-10-23T23:16:00.000-07:002011-10-23T23:16:09.619-07:00FREE HAIKU WORKSHOP<a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13334625ea8666b8">Gmail - Fwd: KURILPA POETS 30 OCT 2011 AT CROQUET HALL, 91 CORDELIA STREET, SOUTH BRISBANE ALL WELCOME </a><br /><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14pt"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Dear Kurilpa Poets, Friends, and Word Artists</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Haiku workshop alert!! Brisbane poet, Ross Clark, a leading exponent of the haiku form, will present a free writing workshop on Sunday October 30.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />There will also be two open mic sessions which will include the opportunity to present haikus written in the workshop session.<br /><br />Ross (karasu) began writing haiku in 1988, and by 1990 had helped to found Australia's only dedicated haiku (& cognate forms) journal -- the quarterly <i>paper wasp</i>, and had undertaken a sponsored tour of Japan.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /></span></div> <div style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">*****************</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">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. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">So you know people who don’t even write poetry but might be interested?<span> </span>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.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Open Mic - Starts at 2pm - All welcome</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Arrive 1.45pm for a seat, coffee and tea, and network with your fellow writers and performers</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">2 x 15 min networking breaks for coffee, tea and cake</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Workshop with Ross Clark</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">further Open Mic til 4.30pm.<var></var></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">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. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:red"><strong>Celebrating Children's Week</strong></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:black"><br /><br />Sunday 30th October, 2011 - Something for the young ones, family, and friends - a great way to start your Sundary morning.<br />10:30 - 12:30<br /><br />Bring your children and your grandchildren to the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens for a wonderful morning of storytelling.<br />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 - [<a href="mailto:marilyn_roberts@bigpond.com" target="_blank">marilyn_roberts@bigpond.com</a>]<img src="http://marilynroberts.com/common/images/transparent.cfm?token=16C82050-A76D-B7E2-31D40CD2748D29E6&member_id=8608583&m=334029" /></span></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">Call Amanda on 0423 772 407 or email us at </span><a href="mailto:kurilpapoets@yahoo.com.au" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;">kurilpapoets@yahoo.com.au</span></a><span style="font-family:Courier New;font-size:100%;"> 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. </span></div> </div>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-85793405461860798852011-10-15T21:56:00.000-07:002011-10-15T21:56:58.399-07:00Share a link on Twitter<a href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet/complete?related=&shortened_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FrohwiW&text=Modern+Rosies%3A+Wenchkin%27s+Equation+for+Pricing+Handmade+Goods+or+Art&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FrohwiW&via=addthis"></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pricing Ourselves out of Existence - downwards</span><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet/complete?related=&shortened_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FrohwiW&text=Modern+Rosies%3A+Wenchkin%27s+Equation+for+Pricing+Handmade+Goods+or+Art&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FrohwiW&via=addthis">http://modernrosies.blogspot.com/2011/09/equation-for-pricing-handmade-goods-or.html</a><br />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!J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-28187515888909114412011-10-14T08:18:00.000-07:002011-10-14T08:18:44.252-07:00Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Short Story Writer<a href="http://www.authorscompare.net/2011/10/jr-mcrae-author-interview-short-story.html?spref=bl">Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Short Story Writer</a>: 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...J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-48595899529707930742011-10-03T23:09:00.000-07:002011-10-11T01:40:37.741-07:00Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Poet<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://www.authorscompare.net/2011/10/jr-mcrae-author-interview-poet.html?spref=bl">Authors Compare: JR McRae - Author Interview: Poet</a></span>: 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...<br /><br /><h3 class="post-title entry-title"> About Authors Compare </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> <div id="yui_3_2_0_1_1318316729704224" dir="ltr">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.</div><br />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]J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-209489124393076292011-07-13T23:39:00.000-07:002011-07-13T23:39:59.573-07:00 Poetry for Children: Poetry 2010 Sneak Peek List<a href="http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/01/poetry-2010-sneak-peek-list.html"> Poetry for Children: Poetry 2010 Sneak Peek List</a><br />for all those who love children's poetry and believe in the ability of poetry to get kids hooked into reading and literary creativity!J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-6947626204696643332011-07-03T01:41:00.001-07:002011-07-03T02:53:11.567-07:00Stories For Sendai - out now - COMPETITION<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-csxq1R3Rtho/ThAreNmJ65I/AAAAAAAAAiU/suhmrQGB0II/s1600/Stories-for-Sendai-cover.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-csxq1R3Rtho/ThAreNmJ65I/AAAAAAAAAiU/suhmrQGB0II/s400/Stories-for-Sendai-cover.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625043732631514002" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br />To find out more about the authors, go to the site and read the author interviews:<br /><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } A:link { so-language: zxx } --></style><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-sushma-joshi.html">Sushma Joshi, Nepal,</a><br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-lorraine-leo.html">Lorraine Leo, USA,</a></span><br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-heather-parker.html"><span style="color:#333399;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Heather Parker, UK</b></span></span></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-j-r-mcrae.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>J.R.McRae, Australia</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-stephen-conley.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Stephen Conley, USA</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-stephen-conley.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Jake Henegan, South Africa</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-gale-massey.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Gale Massey, USA</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-bat-ami-gordin.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Bat-Ami Gordin, USA</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-roland-d-yeomans.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Roland D. Yeomans, USA</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-philip-alenloring.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Philip Allen Loring, Alaska</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-lucy-cripps.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Lucy Cripps, Austria</b></span></a>,<br /><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-damyanti-ghosh.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Damyanti Ghosh, India,</span></a><b><br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-julie-christine.html">Julie Christine, New Zealand</a></b></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">,<br /></span></span><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-kirsty-logan.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Kirsty Logan, Scotland</b></span></a>,<br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-c-n-nevets.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>C. N. Nevets, USA</b></span></a>,<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-aron-white.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Aron White, USA,</span></a></span><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 0.49cm"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-cherie-reich.html">Cherie Reich, USA</a></b></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" >,<br /></span><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-davin-malasarn.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b>Davin Malasarn, USA</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" >,<br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" ><b><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-michelle-davidson-argyle.html">Michelle Davidson Argyle, Editor, USA,</a><br /><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-jc-martin.html">J.C. Martin, Editor, </a><a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/2011/06/meet-authors-jc-martin.html">Malaysia</a>,</b></span></p><br />To celebrate, J.C. and Michelle are holding a <a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/p/competition.html">competition</a><br />with prizes including manuscript critiques, Amazon vouchers and choice of bestseller from Book Depository and more. Contest closes on 15th July so hurry!<br /><br /><b><u>Competition details</u></b><ol><li>Purchase a copy (or more!) of Stories for Sendai when it releases.</li><li>Email your receipt to storiesforsendai (at) ymail (dot) com.</li><li>One contest entry per purchase--so buy extra copies for your friends/family! :)</li><li>Contest closes on <b>July 15th</b> at 10.00pm GMT. Winners will be drawn randomly.</li><li>To find who the winners are, click <a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/p/competition.html">here</a> on July 16th.<br /></li></ol>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-31310924653106737652011-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:002011-06-27T07:36:18.243-07:00100 Stories for Queensland - it is out!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nDOv8P7OEwA/TgiVWnSBILI/AAAAAAAAAhY/DWPEed74HSc/s1600/100-Stories-for-Queensland-cover.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nDOv8P7OEwA/TgiVWnSBILI/AAAAAAAAAhY/DWPEed74HSc/s400/100-Stories-for-Queensland-cover.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622908350506279090" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">My review for <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/173829596">"100 Stories for Queensland"</a> is pasted below -<br /><br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A Veritable Choc Box - Whatever the flavour you favour it's here!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Whether you are an animal lover [try "Kittens!" by Sam Adamson] or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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],<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>uplifting and delightful "Smile" by Stacey Larner.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Short story collections have gained a new impetus with the advent of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Reviews on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Stories-Queensland-Jodi-Cleghorn/dp/0987112627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1309081532&sr=1-1">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/100-Stories-for-Queensland-Jodi-Cleghorn/9780987112620">The Book Depository</a>, <a href="http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/100-Stories-for-Queensland/Jodi-Cleghorn/book_9780987112620.htm">Boomerang Books</a></span></p>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-878948879651055172011-06-26T02:07:00.000-07:002011-06-27T07:32:37.029-07:00Teller2Teller - storytelling in prose, poetry and off the cuff<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ghxfBEij5m0/Tgb4Z1uvFzI/AAAAAAAAAhE/KCAhxV4BYBQ/s1600/JRMcRae-Teller2Teller-24.06.11-2.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ghxfBEij5m0/Tgb4Z1uvFzI/AAAAAAAAAhE/KCAhxV4BYBQ/s400/JRMcRae-Teller2Teller-24.06.11-2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622454307622164274" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">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 <a href="http://www.teller2teller.com/teller2teller-tells/very-nice-time-ahead-24-junehttp://">Teller2Teller</a> 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.<br /><br />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...<br />For me, it was a good opportunity to spruke <a href="http://100storiesforqueensland.org/"><span style="font-style: italic;">"100 Stories for Queensland"</span></a> [all monies going to flood victims] and <a href="http://storiesforsendai.blogspot.com/p/about-tales-for-japan.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Stories for Sendai"</span></a> [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 <a href="http://www.roseandthornjournal.com/Spring_2011_Prose4.html">Rose and Thorn</a> and now also available in "Pot Luck" edited by Chris Bartholomew, <a href="http://www.pillhillpress.com/shoppe-static-movement.html">Static Movement</a>, USA.<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-70628925393595268142011-05-29T05:01:00.000-07:002011-05-29T05:02:55.375-07:00Udderly Amazing! interview by Jesse Grayson of Channel 10, News at 5<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FJQgXvaVKtQ?fs=1" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="295" width="480"></iframe>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-51894613300994244442011-05-21T17:16:00.000-07:002011-05-21T17:16:21.943-07:00Using MS Word to Auto-Outline and Keep Track of Revelations<a href="http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2011/05/using-ms-word-to-auto-outline-and-keep.html">Using MS Word to Auto-Outline and Keep Track of Revelations</a><br />Excellent blog article for Word users - writers in particular!J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-31982051371111798422011-04-23T05:38:00.000-07:002011-04-23T05:41:16.395-07:00Twisted Velvet Chains!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Jessica Ball's new collection of poems is now out! Check it out on Good Reads. My review link: </span></span>http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/162967921<div><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11191294-twisted-velvet-chains" style="padding-right: 20px; display: inline !important; "><img alt="Twisted Velvet Chains" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303553244m/11191294.jpg" /></a><div><a></a></div><a></a></div>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-57802723725065888032010-12-27T03:28:00.000-08:002010-12-27T03:55:13.627-08:00Review by J.R.McRae - "Letters from the Asylum", poetry by John Knight<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-7yfXtPDBS0/TRh7USAgY-I/AAAAAAAAAVk/ydJUKs4Q3ZU/s1600/Letters%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2BAsylum-cover.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-7yfXtPDBS0/TRh7USAgY-I/AAAAAAAAAVk/ydJUKs4Q3ZU/s400/Letters%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2BAsylum-cover.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555325728723067874" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';color:#82393C;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10039096-letters-from-the-asylum"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><b><br />Letters from the Asylum</b></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/143883.John_Knight">John Knight</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Review by J.R.McRae<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Look at this will you…<br />Pages 74 and 75 …the juxtaposition is something alone to mull over!<br /><br />On facing pages we have the ultimate still life, a dead swaggy with all the irony of the ‘life’ his death is giving –<br /><br />“white ants built a nest in his head.”<br /><br />And the opposite page is “affirmation” with its powerful and wryly inspirational second last line -<br /><br />“Maybe it’s time to send flowers to yourself,“<br /><br />Here is something more than poetry, it is the mirror our words create in themselves, between themselves and up to us.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Remembrances ”Seventy-Three Years” Page 21<br />and the wedding portrait’s<br />due formality can’t hide his chin, her smile,<br />their hope.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“blind worm and greedy time’s decay” Page 20<br /><br /><br />1979 Oliver William Knight<br /><br />I scraped the stubborn blade<br />across my father’s face<br />at his request. My sister’s hair<br />fell on his chest. My mother<br />held his hand and willed him life.<br />‘I want to wee,’ he whispered half-asleep.<br /><br />1993 Blanche Marybelle Thirza Knight<br /><br />Blind worm and greedy time’s decay<br />may waste that shrivelled womb and foul<br />the withered breast. Where I once sucked,<br />and on the arm that cradled me<br />vile cankers spread. But the raven hair<br />you shook out for his pleasuring<br />endures, and the plain ring on your finger.<br /><br />Let’s travel on.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The last lines sum it up perfectly –<br /><br />… And last week, when I sent flowers<br />to the woman I love, her brother’s dog bit the delivery boy.<br />Is the universe trying to tell me something?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The poem flits like a moth in dark places looking for the deadly candle light.<br />“The trick is not to get yourself... deleted.”<br />Along the way, we play with rhyme schemes to emphasis the rhythm in this dance macabre.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Philosophising on life and everything else is best done succinctly. John achieves this, reflecting on the sad state of politics in “The Day After”<br />“we woke up sad and sorry<br />but the sun was still there.”<br />[page 84] and everything else [page 85] in “there is a light”. “I have given my days blindly” and “now the Earth beckons…”<br /><br />A perfect ending to the collection is not on page 94 but on page 90, “peace”.<br />I love every line of this little gem, so I reproduce it entire –<br /><br />this house has<br />peace in its<br />timber, the slow<br />blowfly hums<br />peace, the pines<br />and the clean sky<br />echo peace, the<br />kingfisher calls<br />peace and the<br />water breaking on<br />the flat sand<br />sings<br /><br />Taupo Bay<br />Tai Tokerau<br /><br />As this is likely, alas, to be John’s final collection, I have added some excerpts from his ‘Introduction”.<br />Extracts: [Page 11] For the greater part of my adult life, I have experienced recurrent<br />severe depression — in the clinical as well as the popular sense of the<br />term — alternating with shorter periods of considerable exhilaration.<br /><br />The association of depression with creativity is not uncommon,<br />and a substantial number of artists and thinkers are said to have been<br />affected by it.<br /><br />My own experience suggests that it is in the shift from one state to the<br />other (either manic or depressive) that creativity finds purchase;<br /><br />And on “the process of writing” [Page 14]<br />there comes a time, if the work is to have its own<br />veridicality, its own conviction, when it starts to speak back to me<br />so to speak. It assumes an independent existence, and tells me what<br />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.<br /><br />Letters from the Asylum, Sudden Valley Press, Christchurch, NZ, 2009 ISBN 978-0-9582091-9-9 by John Knight<br /><br />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.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1659618-jennifer"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><b>View all my reviews</b></span></a></div><div><br /></div></span></span>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-32571697381431729062010-11-26T21:43:00.000-08:002010-11-26T22:01:05.048-08:00Poetry Magazines, Presses & related promotional sites<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Poetry Magazines and Publishers and Promoters of Poetry on FaceBook & elsewhere – please feel free to add to this evolving list!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Adirondack Review – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1606723468"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1606723468</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Ahadada Books – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547067182"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547067182</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Anhinga Press – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/anhingapress"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/anhingapress</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Apex Reviews – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/apexreviews"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/apexreviews</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Australian Poetry Centre – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1437276855"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1437276855</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Around Poetry – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/around.poetry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/around.poetry</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Artifice Mag – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/artificemag"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/artificemag</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Askew Poetry Journal – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Australian Book Review – on FaceBook Australian Poetry – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Bellevue Literary Press – on FaceBook Bellevue Literary Review – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Black Coffee Press – on FaceBook Black Lawrence Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Blood Lotus Journal – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/bloodlotusjournal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/bloodlotusjournal</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Blueorangepublishing Ceret – FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Boa Editions – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1021828669"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1021828669</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Broadsided Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Brownstone Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Burnside Review – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Carcanet Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Comma Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Coffee House Press – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CoffeeHousePress"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/CoffeeHousePress</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Copperfield Review – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Covert Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Dark Coast Press – on FaceBook – <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">SDivan – <a href="http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/Courses/CI/Pages/divan.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/Courses/CI/Pages/divan.aspx</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Dusie Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">ElephantEars Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Ethical Poets – on FAceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Farrago Poetry – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Finishing Line Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Five Islands Press – on Face Book – <a href="http://www.fiveislandspress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.fiveislandspress.com/</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Fulcrum Books – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">FullofCrow Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Fushicho Imprint – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Guernica Mag – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Guildhall Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Hande Book Publishers – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Harper Imprint on FaceBook Haibun Today – <a href="http://haibuntoday.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://haibuntoday.blogspot.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Indiana Review on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Indie Lit – on FaceBook IP [Interactive Press] – <a href="http://www.ipoz.biz/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.ipoz.biz/</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics – onFaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">John F. Blair Publisher – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Kilmog Press – on FaceBook Kore Press – women’s writing – articles, stories, poetry <a href="http://www.facebook.com/korepress"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/korepress</span></a> <a href="http://www.korepress.org/about.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.korepress.org/about.htm</span></a> Leucrota Press – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Luciole Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Manic D Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Mascara Literary Review – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Meanjin – on FaceBook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meanjin-Quarterly/49183750265?ref=ts&v=wall"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meanjin-Quarterly/49183750265?ref=ts&v=wall</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Midway Journal – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Missing Spoke Press – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Naugatuck River Review – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Neopoiesis Press -http://www.facebook.com/neopoiesispress <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Next Wave – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">On a Shoestring – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Outsider Writers – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Overland Literary Journal – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Overlook Press – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Pale House – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Paper Wasp, Australian Haiku Journal – Janice Bostock – on MySpace <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Poem a Day – on FaceBook Poetry Pulse.com – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000917025873"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000917025873</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Poetry N Prose – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Quadrant – online and in hard copy – on FaceBook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quadrant/104045959633305?ref=ts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quadrant/104045959633305?ref=ts</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Quick Fiction – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Rattapallax Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Raw Poetry – <a href="http://www.facebook.com/rawpoetry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.facebook.com/rawpoetry</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Red Hen Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Red Room – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Ripples – <a href="mailto:ripplesmagazine@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">ripplesmagazine@gmail.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Salmon Poetry – on FaceBook – <a href="http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=207&a=88"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=207&a=88</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Sandstone Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Sentient Publications – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Silenced Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Small Change Press – on MySpace – <a href="http://www.smallchangepress.com.au/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">http://www.smallchangepress.com.au</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Speed Poets – on MySpace – anotherlostshark.com <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">The Mozzie – Ron Heard & Bill Henderson [on LinkedIn.com] <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Southerly Journal – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Stone Bridge Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Sugar House Review – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">The Toronto Quarterly – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Tlon Books Publishing – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Trailer Park Quarterly – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">UAkron Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">University of Alabama Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Untitled Pocketbook – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Upthestaircase Quarterly – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"> Virgogray Press – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Voicebox Freemantle – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">WA POETS – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Wakefield Press – on Facebook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Wired Ruby Literary Zine – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Word Jammin’ – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Writers Hub – on FaceBook <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">Writers News Show – on FaceBook<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;">If your site is not listed, either I have not yet found you or you have not yet ‘accepted’ my friend request!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3477712509362591255.post-11609440329995577932010-10-10T00:01:00.000-07:002010-10-10T00:04:25.118-07:00"MIRROR" by Jeannie Baker<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8036479-mirror" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Mirror" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280369606m/8036479.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8036479-mirror">Mirror</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/172849.Jeannie_Baker">Jeannie Baker</a><br/><br /><br /><br /><br />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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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!<br/><br/>I have always been a fan of Jeannie Baker's beautiful, evocative, detailed collages. This latest book is a treasure!<br/><br/>"Mirror" by Jeannie Baker, Walker Books, ISBN 978-1-4063-0914-0.<br /><br/><br/><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1659618-jennifer">View all my reviews</a>J.R.Poulter/J.R.McRaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17906320253154355620noreply@blogger.com0