First Word

  Today’s topic is about using the point of view and the feelings of the character to apply it in how your descriptions unfold. In writing One Little Lie , I am writing in the first person. I chose the first-person narrative so I could convey the depth of the character’s feelings, but also to allow the prose to unfold from that person’s perspective. You have to remember that if you decide to use the first person narrative, you will be restricted to the knowledge of that person. You’re up in the narrator’s head, and the narrator only observes and hears from the other characters.   I’ve used several types of techniques. I decided to use first person in One Little Lie , because it’s a deeply personal and emotional tale. The story revolves around one character’s story of transformation, from open naivete and hopeful trust to the rude awakening of a narcissistic liar’s duplicity. You go through the experience of her transformation with her and see it unfold throu...

Lily Waters Author Interview   Q. What is the Magical Journey of Cinderella Sapphire about? A. The Magical Journey of Cinderella Sapphire takes readers on a personal voyage into the life of a young girl as she grows into womanhood under the specter of child physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, the loss of her entire family, and the unfathomable grief of it all. Cinderella Sapphire, a young girl who starts out in life with a happy, beautiful family soon experiences great loss when her beloved grandmother and mother die within three months of each other. Cinderella or “Ella” is left behind with her older brother and her loving father who soon falls under the “spell” of the beautiful but cruel Susanna. The abusive and wicked Susanna unleashes her jealousy, wrath, and twisted behavior on her stepchildren. She poisons or kills pets, sexually abuses both Ella and her brother, and makes life a living hell. Q. Why did you write the book? A. To ease the suffering of those in difficult cir...

“I am rolling out of bed now.” “Good because you have to be at the Habitat for Humanity in two hours. You also told me you wanted to pick up Charlie too.” Hearing his name, Ella grumbled, “Oh no. I drunk texted him.” “You texted me a picture with your sister saying you missed me after I had left early,” explained Nancy. “Then you asked if I could give you a raise, which I think you meant to tell me you were going to give me a raise. So spill it girlfriend before I have to rai se the troops here aka kids.” Ella filled her in. “If he didn’t think I liked him before, well…” Buy print version here: http://3lpublishing.flyingcart.com/?p=detail&pid=92&cat_id=0 Ebooks available on Amazon Kindle and Nook.

Rating: ***** Ella, the sharp public relations expert, and Charles Grady, the hot, handsome, bad boy movie star, meet and the sparks instantly fly. As Ella works to repair her bad boy's public image, she finds herself falling deeply in love with the sexy Charlie. Charlie falls for the sweet, smart, loving Ella -- and soon the bad boy is tamed. Love though sometimes isn't quite that easy. On the eve of their wedding, tragedy strikes in the most unthinkable way. Ella must make a heart-breaki ng choice... Minnie and Henry, Ella's grandparents, also share a deep love during the 60's while under the shadow of the Vietnam War. Henry is sent off to war and leaves his beautiful, loyal wife Minnie behind. When he returns, things are never the same. When tragedy also strikes their marriage, the aftermath leaves Minnie's life in ruins. Yet she survives and goes on... Public Affairs is an intergenerational story of true love, family, loyalty, trage...

Frequently Asked Questions Q: What is The World Premiere of Me About ? A : Hollywood billionaire movie producer Grayson O’Day has a plan to rid the world of poverty through the power of imagination.   He relocates his operation from Hollywood to The Hamptons, and spends a small fortune to build a prototype movie studio.   With construction complete, O’Day needs only one thing to fulfill his vision: a test subject.   The World Premiere of Me is the story of Duncan Ferris and his unlikely journey from classic underachiever to forerunner of the final age of man: The Age of Mind.   The broad theme of the story is: God has a plan to rid the world of poverty, and that plan travels through the imagination of man.   The story is told as an allegory, wherein all the main characters represent one aspect of the theme.   These include Grayson O’Day (God), protagonist Duncan Ferris (man), antagonist Fenton Hardaway (death), and Bud “The Co...

Grains of Truth Elizabeth Ferry-Perata 3L Publishing (2017) ISBN 9780996677691 Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (3/18) “Grains of Truth” by Elizabeth Ferry-Perata revolves around a small town in Texas where two friends learn to deal with the reality in life that no matter what they do, it will never be good enough for some. Each friend has their own past history of dysfunctional families, relationships and learning to accept that one can’t change everything. Sarah and Zoe are best friends fighting all the odds against them, especially in the perception of their “feed store” help label. According to Otis, owner of Otis Feed Store, both his female employees are the lowest of the low, and have no right to act like they are anything else. Tom, Otis’s son, has no back bone when it comes to standing up against his father. The plan is for Tom to marry Angela, daughter of another rich businessman so both fathers’ can merge their business interests. I found the initial intent of th...

Overall, I really liked this book. I am really glad I got the chance to read it. Not many books unnerve me with their words, but this one did. I look forward to reading more of Ferry-Perata’s books in the future. ~ Jessyca Garcia, Reader's Choice It will tug at your heart strings, and keep pulling you back in. A great read. Wonderfully, beautifully written story. ~ Amy's Bookshelf This is a beautifully written book about the bounds of friendship ... Great story, great characters and an unbelievable twist at the end. Read this book ! ~ Imaskeptic  Available on Amazon ( click here ). Grains of Truth takes readers into the lives of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. Each woman has experienced heartbreak and betrayal in their quests for love. Their lives center on the happenings at the local feed store where each woman works. The store is managed by the affable and caring, Tom who is the only male heir to the chain owned by patriarch Otis. Otis, a larger-than-life ...

I had a dream last night. I was walking through a local library and spotted California Girl Chronicles , book 1 and 2 on the shelves. They had been well worn and read. I also noticed that they had a hard copy of book 2, Brea’s Big Break . I wondered, “Who got this printed?” What a strange dream. I felt proud the books had been obviously read a lot since they were tattered up. I’ve always called California Girl Chronicles like chewing bubble gum – it’s sweet, fun and a way to pass time, especially on the beach. Both books are sexy, funny and frivolous in many ways. I was in a different frame of mind when I wrote these books. Today five years later after so much in my life has changed, I’ve considered whether or not I need to get a little more frivolous again. I was driving UBER and put the books behind the seats in the little pocket. A passenger picked up the second book, which says “It’s Sex in the City meets Entourage.” The girl says, “Oh cool!” Now that is an i...

An interesting discussion came up the other day with one of my new clients. We were talking about public relations for this new product line. He was saying he wanted to send a press release out a week to promote the product launch. I looked at him and said, “Public relations isn’t about press releases and how many you can send out to get attention.” I’ve noticed sometimes people mistake advertising and marketing with public relations. I thought I would take a moment to clarify it. Public relations is designed to raise awareness about your company, product or service . It puts your name out in the public domain and promotes your message. Problem is that some people confuse “message” with product promotion. Media doesn’t want to receive weekly notices about your product launch. Media wants headlines and news. When it comes to book promotion they want human interest and material that will spark discussions. Remember, media is in the business of “information” not ad...

Now onto other topics ... today's topic is what I'm going to call "Traditional Publishing Snobbery" AKA as TPS. I've run into it my entire career and I wanted to refute why it's nothing more than elitist misconceptions driven by old school ideas.   Listening to TPS from unpublished authors who think they know everything is akin to listening to your 12-year-old lecture you about relationships and marriage LOL (yes, my daughter recently shared her "insights" on marriage). Many TPSnobs (not snobbery) hold the ancient reader misconception that traditional publishing act as a gateway to production of "great" literature. If you're not traditionally published then your book must not be any good. This fallacy is just that - a false truth.   Let me explain. Foremost, the top six traditional publishers are businesses, well, actually corporations. What are corporation designed to do? Make money. Traditional publishers like ...

I got asked a really great question by a fellow hiker, “What’s the difference between reading and writing?” He was walking behind us talking to his companion about math. They were doing math formulas. I turned and said, “Are you really solving math problems on the trail?” “Yes,” he replied enthusiastically. I admitted I was a writer, and math wasn’t “my thing.” Then he asked that specific question. My answer: When you read someone is sharing her imagination with you. When you write you’re sharing your imagination with the world. I like that idea, don’t you? I know many of my readers on this list are writers. We have the unique talent to tell a story in the written word and give to others. What a unique gift? I am grateful I can give something that amazing to the world. As writers we leave behind a written legacy of gifts to the world. Speaking of writing, my new book The Abused just came back from the first round of editing. So far, the focus group read...

I am on a number of groups on Linked-In and I receive all sorts of newsletters from Kindle/Amazon and Amazon U among others. I read the topic always looking for something to share with you or remark about. A recent topic that caught my attention was called "What to do if your book isn't selling". This topic made me think about it. I wanted to share my own opinions and insights.   The first question to ask is: Did my book ever pick up any sales momentum in the first place? One of three things typically happens when it comes to book sales. 1) The book never picked up any sales momentum and only enjoyed a handful of sales or 2) It picked up sketchy sales momentum or 3) It did pick up momentum and then when promotion died it enjoyed only a trickle of sales. I'm going to address each of these scenarios one at a time.   No. 1: No sales. Some books never catch on, period . I know for the authors this can be a disappointment. No matter what the author...

When promoting a new product or book there are typical mistakes that can be made, especially when it comes to how much money to spend and where. I thought for this issue I would discuss what I'm going to call "promotional money-wasters". I always try to guide authors and clients with information I've gleaned from experience and observation.   Drive up a decent amount of book sales before you start over-spending . Here is why. Some books no matter how much money you invest just may never pick up that precious market momentum. I always try to encourage authors to spend conservatively before they start throwing money at the book's promotion. Sometimes the results are the results. You need to measure and gage the market. Don't just throw money at the wall and see if it sticks. You will be unhappy if the money disappears into the marketing abyss. So test the waters. See how initial sales go and overall reaction. If you've got a strong start o...

What is the Harris Estate about? Harris Estate is an alluring mystery that takes our protagonist, Leah Murphy, from San Francisco, California to Oakdale, Texas when she inherits a long abandoned ranch estate. A grisly discovery on the property sparks an investigation with local authorities, which opens up Pandora's box and everything Leah knew about her life is changed forever. During the trials and tribulations, her marriage is tested, her desires are amplified, and she has decisions to make that will affect everyone she loves. Why did you write the book? In January, my grandmother passed away at the age of 96. We celebrated her life and the love that she gave to all of us.   Like many people after losing someone special, I found myself analyzing my life, past, present and future. A week after the service, I was on a several-days-long road trip for work when I drove past an abandoned farmhouse.   My mind and imagination went into overdrive as I w...

Book Launch: Sept. 17, 2016 Time: 1pm to 2pm Location: Avid Reader Address: 617 2nd St., Davis, CA    A new author has emerged in the literary world by the name of Stacey Cotter who has penned a captivating mystery titled Harris Estate: Some secrets can’t be buried.. . This well-written and fast-paced novel reveals the story of a young woman named Leah Murphy who sets out to sell the family’s estate in Texas only to uncover many dark secrets that completely unravel her identity. Harris Estate is loaded with tense intrigue as Leah Murphy learns more than she bargained for when she visits the decaying farmhouse estate. The novel is the frosh effort of Stacey Cotter who worked for many months to bring this story to print. Her writing style takes situations that on many levels might seem ordinary (exploring the estate or even sitting down for a meal) and flushes them out by creating layers of subtext and deeper meaning. The very nature of Leah ...