Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Tyfany Janee, author of The Invitation: To Journey Through A Conscious Mind.

Presenting Tyfany Janee…

Tone Is Everything

Tones are categories that characterize the dimension of a given text, the emotion that must be evoked in the reader. They, therefore, define the scope and usefulness of a literary text.

The tone of a text is a particular way of telling an event. By using different methods of writing and highlighting certain themes, it is possible to provoke in the reader or spectator various emotions: laughter, sadness, anguish, terror … The tone of a text Does not necessarily depend on its genre – a novel, for example, can be comic and pathetic. In a text, one can meet the tones tragic, pathetic, lyrical, epic, comic, ironic, fantastic …

Furthermore, the tone is everything your text needs to stand out. Some Types of tone and its uses include:

1. Tragic tone

The tragic tone is the tone of terror/fright and pity. It is a frequent tone in classical tragedy and in the theater of the twentieth century.

It is about man facing forces that surpass him (gods, fate, passions). Fate is like an infernal machine, as it has no way out for the character, usually of high rank, posed to his dilemmas. There is no happy outcome to provoke catharsis, the purgation of the passions of the soul.

Processes used: sustained register, figures of amplifications such as hyperbole, opposition figures, exclamations, apostrophes, interrogations, supplication, complaint, impotence, fault, death.

2. Comic tone

This is the tonality that seeks the expression of laughter and entertainment. In addition to this, the comic can have a critical reach. Laughter can highlight the defects of the man to seek to correct them. In this, he joins the satirical tone.

It is a frequent tone in comedy but can be found in other literary genres.

Four types of comics play the springs of the comic: the comic situation, the comic character, the comic of words, the comic gesture.

Processes used: the burlesque (contrast between the subject treated and the style: serious subject on a vulgar style for example), parody, satire, figures of repetitions, current or familiar register, the effect of misunderstanding, Effect of rupture, exaggerations, play on words.

3. Pathetic tone

It is the expression of suffering that inspires the reader with powerful emotions. The pathetic term comes from pathos in Greek which means compassion, pain. If the pathetic tone arouses a violent emotion, it does not contain a notion of fatality, contrary to the tragic tone that is close to it. It is also linked to the lyrical and elegiac tones that are reciprocally the expression of feelings and the expression of sentimental suffering.

It is a common tone in the great literary genres: poetry, novel, theater.

Processes used: amplification figures, lexical field of strong feelings, exclamations, interrogations, injunctions.

4. Epic tone

This tonality seeks to provoke admiration or fright. It is used to narrate the warrior and wonderful adventures of a hero. It is found originally in the epic, then in medieval narratives, in certain theatrical texts, in certain novels, in certain historical narratives when it is a question of narrating a grandiose act.

Processes used: amplification, superlatives, hyperboles, enumerations, accumulations, personifications, intensity adverbs, action sequence, marvelous.

5. Fantastic tone

This is a tone that seeks to arouse anguish, fear, hesitation. It is particularly present in the novels, the news belonging to the fantastic genre. It involves bringing mysterious facts into the real world.

Emotions are caused by the uncertainty in the interpretation of what is happening: is it natural or supernatural? Rational or irrational? Doubt is, therefore, the founding element of the fantastic tone.

Methods used: intrusion of the mysterious into everyday life, internal focus, narrative breakdown, lexical field of the strange, modalizers of doubt (adverbs, conditional mode), lexical field of fear, hesitation.

6. Polemic tone

It is the tone of anger or indignation. This term comes from polemos in Greek which means war.

It is a tone that is found in debates, argumentative texts, essays, speeches. All these texts fight ideas and arise in conflicting argumentative situations. These are energetic denunciations.

Processes used: attempts at discredit (antiphrasis, litotes), marks of personal commitment, marks of emotion (exclamations, interrogations)

7. Deliberative Tone

This is a tone of doubt, of hesitation. It is a matter of unraveling a situation involving two choices. We confront the arguments, we discuss them, and we make a choice. It is a rhetorical tone in the case where deliberation seeks to convince someone. It is found in the debates.

Processes used: presence of arguments and counter-arguments, rebuttals.

8. Learning tone

The didactic text seeks to explain or to teach a knowledge through explanations or a morality. These are the explanatory texts, the argumentative texts, the essays, the maxims …

The methods used: an objective style, a neutral vocabulary, declarative sentences, present.

9. Epidemic tone

It is the tone of admiration, praise, or blame. It is the art of portraiture in the novel genre, in the theatrical genre, for example. It is also the art of discourse, a rhetorical art. It can be found in poetry, in funeral orations, too.

Epidural tone celebrates qualities or denounces someone’s faults.

Processes used: image enhancement or devaluation, a vocabulary pejorative or melliative.

In conclusion, the tone consists of the attitude adopted by the author concerning a specific character, place, or development. Helping, thus, the reader to determine the feelings of the author. It is the emphasis it conveys through the solemn, the serious, the critical to the witty, and the ironic and comical. To make a literary work interesting and lively, the importance of the tone cannot be overemphasized.

About the author:

About the book:

The Invitation: To journey through a conscious mind, is a showcase in talent from author and poet Tyfany Janee. She’s eloquently produced the anthology through plaintive artistic angst. Injecting the essence of her soul into her prose. The diverse collection of poetry which lies between the covers is the result of an entire life’s work experimenting within her vocation.
Her work is comprised of truth, meaning, hope, possibility and a succinct hint of humor as she tears away the facade from humanity. The works shed light on relative issues that we’re all faced with in our easily waywardly led astray lives, and the monotony that makes up our existence.
The Invitation: To journey through a conscious mind is an ode to the beat generation of poets that carved their names in literary history. Any creative mind will revel in the inspiration that lies between these pages, it’s full of daring attitude, and celebration for the authentic. A unique look on love, that you have to dare to delve within. It harnesses true devotion, with a stark, hair raising element of modern reality.

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Invitation-journey-through-conscious-mind/dp/0998889202/ 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35674490-the-invitation

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through email at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Donnie Masters, author of Start Winning With Money: Your Guide to Personal Finance, Small Business Growth, and Building Wealth.

Presenting Donnie Masters…

The 4 Biggest Financial Lies Being Taught To Americans Right Now

I love living in America. I really do. There are so many opportunities available to people that live in this great country. But when it comes to the public education system, and specifically the way we are teaching the current generation of students about finances, we are really screwing it up.

I am sorry for being so brutally honest, but I was a child of the public education system. The things that some of my teachers taught me about life and money were simply wrong. Sadly, we are still teaching some of the same things to today’s children.

Before I go on any further, let me say that I do not have any resentment towards my teachers. I don’t believe for a single moment that any of my teachers were intentionally trying to steer me down the wrong road, I just don’t think they knew any better.

It has taken me a lot of years, and some big financial mistakes, to finally overcome some of the beliefs that I was taught regarding money and finance. My financial education, or rather lack thereof, truly placed a mental road block that I had to free myself from before I could find success.

I specifically cover all four of these financial lies in my book, Start Winning With Money. While each of these financial myths appears to be sound financial advice on the surface, I specifically break each one down with factual evidence as to why they are not necessarily your best financial move.So without further delay, here are the 4 biggest financial lies that I was taught and are still being taught to our children today.

Lie #1 – You Must Get A College Education

The fact that we continue to expect each and every student to go to college is just plain hypocrisy. Statistically, we now know that the ever increasing amount of debt that is taken on to afford college does not offer you any better opportunity in life. Yes, a college education is required for some specific jobs. However, unless there is a huge difference in salary, the amount of debt that you must pay back over time does not warrant taking the risk for a lot of degree programs.

Lie #2 – You Must Buy A House

Your personal residence is not an appreciating asset, nor is it a good debt. Yes, there is an argument to be made about the tax savings of owning a residence versus renting, but the reality is that your personal residence does not appreciate in value any faster than overall inflation.

Lie #3 – You Must Save A Lot Of Money For Retirement

By now it is fairly common knowledge that you cannot out save inflation. But did you know that you probably cannot save enough for your retirement either? A good 401(k) plan, and aggressively saving your money will put you in a better position than most,but the only way to thrive in your retirement is to begin building streams of passive income during your working years.

Lie #4 – You Must Avoid ALL Debt

Avoiding bad debt during your lifetime will afford you opportunities that others can only dream of. However, avoiding all debt completely, could actually cost you money in the long term. For example, if I offered to to pay you $900 for $600 on the first of every month would you take it? Of course you would, and why wouldn’t you?

Not knowing the difference between good debts and bad debts is really the bigger issue at hand. Any savvy real estate investor would take the $900 for $600 deal all day long. In fact, most highly profitable businesses run on far smaller profit margins than the 50% profit margin that we just used in our example. Knowing how to make money and when to use debt properly will change your financial future for the better.

About the author:

About the book:

If you are looking to make millions of dollars while sitting in your pajamas, then this book is not for you!

Start Winning With Money is financial book that offers high impact, real world solutions for life’s many money questions.

Want to better your personal finances?
Want to open your own successful business?
Would you like some real clarity on the cost of higher education?
Want to address the issue of debt in your life?
All of that and more is available to you.

Start Winning With Money will teach you:
Why your current income has nothing to do with obtaining wealth
Challenge the popular belief that all debt is bad
Address the issues with public education and why you were taught to fail with money
Define a proper budget
Why good debt can help you grow wealthy
Explain the importance of money in achieving financial freedom
Redefine true wealth

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071NMPPYR
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35666557-start-winning-with-money

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through email at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author A.P. McGrath, author of A Burning In The Darkness.

Presenting A.P. McGrath…

A Sense of Place

The small town in south Tipperary in Ireland where I grew up had a population of 5,000 and when I was a teenager I began taking black and white photographs of local people in the places where they worked and lived. My mum knew the editor of the local newspaper – everybody knows everybody in a town that small. He liked the pictures I was taking and offered a weekly slot entitled ‘The Town and Its People’. I would approach shop owners, butchers, pub owners etc. and ask them if I could drop by someday soon to take their picture. I realised they would dress up a little and strike a certain pose, but people reveal themselves through these self-conscious acts as much as they do when they are caught unawares. These folk had a certain pride in their living or work places and I wanted to capture these spaces as much as the people themselves. I was interested in the details of the old shops that were giving way to the more modern out-of-town shopping. I liked the light and the tonality and the resonances of past times. The weekly portraits were a hit with the townsfolk. Indeed on more than one occasion I remember my mum remarking to me “Oh, I hear Mrs O’Reilly is disappointed you haven’t taken her photograph”. The townsfolk wanted themselves seen in and certain light and, in truth, I probably had my own slightly selfish reasons for taking the photographs. I knew that I wanted to leave and I was developing a skill that might get me a ticket out.

Image Credit: AP McGrath

Image Credit: AP McGrath

Probably all of the world’s biggest airports have a quiet prayer room offering sanctuary before a journey. A traveller might be embarking on a whole new life in a new country. Maybe he or she has planned an escape from an anxious past or is simply going on a welcome family holiday in the sun. Travel can also be a dreary necessity. We may need to make a business trip or a journey because of events that are beyond our control, as in the death of a family member or loved one. One friend told me she was about to go on a business trip when she miscarried her second pregnancy. She was in her mid to late forties and knew it was probably her last chance to give her young son a brother or sister. She entered the quietness of the prayer room and had a think and a good cry before she carried on with her journey. The prayer room had been a welcome and necessary shelter.

In a novel, place is inseparable from character and events. Indeed it can become an effective character in itself, a protagonist or an antagonist, soaked in mood. My novel A Burning in the Darkness begins in the prayer room of one of the world’s biggest airports. There is a tiny confessional box and in its anonymous darkness a voice confesses a murder to Father Michael Kieh, but a young boy has witnessed the killer go into the confessional. Father Michael becomes the main suspect in the murder investigation because of a group of pitiless antagonists, but he doesn’t betray the identity of the young boy nor break the Seal of Confession.

A large airport is a cinematic place. It is a frenzied cathedral dedicated to travel. It is also a lonely place. Michael is one of a number of faith representatives tending to the needs of more than 80 million passengers who pass through its gates each year, yet he rarely gets to see members of his flock more than once. His environment is constantly changing and he begins to question his faith. He is drawn to the companionship of an art dealer, Joan, who frequents the airport for business trips.

Michael grew up in Liberia in the midst of its brutal civil war. His childhood experiences shaped him and made him what he is: a good man. I wanted to explore the idea that he had the freedom to think differently from his environment. He had the ability to strike out against its dominant mood because he wanted the world to be good and not characterised by the destructive madness of war. And he had the strength of character to do it.

Image Credit: AP McGrath

Image Credit: AP McGrath

I studied English and Philosophy at University College Dublin, but I also trained and studied as a photographer. In the late eighties I had the opportunity to go to the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat and used my time there to take portraits of some of its people. Some months ago, after I’d finished writing the novel, I was doing a clean-out of the attic and came across the photographs which had been hidden away for many years. I was struck by the way they explore the intertwined relationship between character and environment. In technical terms the portraits are taken with a wide-angle lens so that you see both the person and the surroundings. I was drawn to the looming Soufrière Hills volcano at the centre of the island and it becomes the backdrop to many of the photographs. However, in July 1995, the volcano erupted and destroyed most of the main habitable areas, including the principle town, the airport and docking facilities. Two thirds of the population were forced to leave, mainly to the UK.

Most of the photographs were taken in parts of the island ravaged by the volcano. This area was designated an exclusion zone and it covers more than half of the island. So, there is poignancy to these photographs that capture a world now lost.

Image Credit: AP McGrath

Image Credit: AP McGrath

Several months before the publication of my novel I realised I had to set up a web site. I’m not a corporate person. I couldn’t see myself in a smiling brochure portrait, passing myself off as a kind of salesperson. But I could see that the photographs of Montserrat might say as much about me as they do about the people in the photographs. The quality of the relationship between the subject and the artist is crucial. The degree of imaginative sympathy for the subject is something that sets a good work of art apart from others. The ultimate skill is not in mastering the camera or a fancy ability with words; it is getting the subjects to reveal themselves – even if the subject is entirely your invention.

You can find more portraits of Montserrat on my web site: http://www.apmcgrath.com.

About the author:

About the book:

A murder at one of the world’s busiest airports opens this simmering crime story where a good man’s loyalty is tested to its limits. Michael Kieh is a full time faith representative serving the needs of some of the 80 million passengers, but circumstance and evidence point to his guilt. His struggle to prove his innocence leads him on a charged journey that pitches love against revenge.

Michael’s loneliness was eased by a series of brief encounters with a soul mate. When she confides a dark secret, he is motivated to redress a heart-breaking injustice. Together they must battle against powerful forces as they edge dangerously close to unmasking a past crime. But Michael faces defeat when he chooses to protect a young witness, leaving him a burning spirit in the darkness.

Michael’s commitment to helping those in need was forged in the brutality of the Liberian civil war. Protected by a kind guardian, he too was a young witness to an atrocity that has left a haunting legacy of stolen justice and a lingering need for revenge. More poignantly there is a first love cruelly left behind in Africa because of the impossible choices of war. When Michael and his former lover find each other once again they become formidable allies in proving his innocence and rediscovering their lost love.

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through email at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author K.M. Aul, author of Synesthesia.

Presenting K.M. Aul…

God, Myth and Mystery

The fourth book in the Senses Novels series, Synesthesia, deals with the concepts of immortality, God and myth. The book, while part of a limited series, can easily be read as a stand-alone novel.

The story begins with the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus. The Bible does not go into a lot of detail about Lazarus after he is raised from the dead. There are many stories and claims about the man and his life. Several places claim to be the final resting place of Lazarus, but nothing definitive. Synesthesia takes a different view.

In Matthew 16:28 Jesus is speaking to the disciples when he says, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom.” This pronouncement has been the subject of heated debates throughout the centuries. Was Jesus being allegorical or literal?

Some aspects to the story of Lazarus make it unique in all the Gospels. First, Jesus weeps when He finds out He is too late to save His friend, as though He were expecting to arrive in time to save Lazarus’s life. Second, Lazarus appears to be just that, Jesus’s friend, and possibly even someone He knew prior to starting His ministry. Finally, this is the only instance we know of where Jesus did not physically touch the dead person to bring them back from the dead.

So, if Lazarus were not only restored to life, but given a form of immortality along with it, would that make the story more or less incredible? In Synesthesia, the premise of Lazarus being immortal or, at least, having a greatly extended life is used as one of the primary plot vehicles. The other is the unique ‘disability’ that comes with this new life and the abilities which seem to spring from it.

In Lazarus’ life he encounters and we discover explanations for many of the so-called myths and mysteries history has left us:

• Why are dragons a recurring theme in so many cultures?
• What caused the Mayan civilization to vanish almost overnight?
• What is the truth behind the statues on Easter Island?
• What do the various monoliths and stone circles around the world have in common?
• What ever happened to the Ark of the Covenant?

Ultimately, this novel is tied into the series as Lazarus and others prepare to face the greatest threat to all life on our planet. It is a story of life, death, change and challenge.

About the author:

About the book:

The Best Selling Christian Fiction/Fantasy Series Continues!

Time has run out. The world as we know it is coming to an end and a handful of heroes are all that stand in the way of the final darkness.

Born in an age of brutality and miracles, Eli was raised from the dead to start a new life unlike any other. His touch can heal; his pain can destroy. He has not only seen the rise and fall of civilizations, his power has been the cause of them. Prepare yourself for an adventure through time, prepare to face the greatest challenge humankind has ever known.

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Synesthesia-Book-Four-Senses-Novels-ebook/dp/B01NBQC9CV
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33776838-synesthesia

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through email at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Kate Trinity, author of It’s The Demon In Me.

Presenting Kate Trinity…

Why I wrote Deanna

It is the Demon in Me is the story of Deanna, a girl with supressed abilities that keeps her family on the run from the inevitable. And the inevitable is catching up. Deanna is about to learn the truth of who she really is, whether she likes it or not. She is going to come into her true power, to save her family, but the release of that power brings much bigger problems to their door and she isn’t sure she’s ready to be the one dealing with them.

I’ve always had a very active imagination. And I’ve always made stuff up and written it down. But very few of those imaginative stories every made it to completion. It is the Demon in Me is one of the first to do that – and it only took me three books to find out what happened to Deanna.

It is the Demon in Me is about power – who has it and who doesn’t. And where it can take you when you realise you have more than you thought. It’s about defending those who are weaker than you, standing behind your decisions, and facing your demons. In Deanna’s case this was literal.

And I guess I was battling some of my own at the time. Deanna helped me escape into another world, one that I could control. But she soon took over, the story coming from the decisions her character made as much as from my own ideas. Not every choice she made was the right one.

To begin with I was just writing for my own enjoyment, to see where the story went. It wasn’t until I was shown an article about an author self-publishing that I even knew that was possible. So, I figured I might as well give it a shot.

Whilst the story is technically set in the real world, it’s filled with Demons, Monsters, Angels, and the occasional God. As well as rather a lot of their offspring. And parts of the story take you to other realms and other worlds. My favourite place is the library in the underworld – every book ever written lining shelves in a circular room.

The doorway revealed a huge library with a marble floor and shelves that stood over two floors. She could see a partial gallery type walkway around the top part of the library, and a peppering of gilded ladders that ran on tracks around the large circular room. About every three bookshelves there was a gap with a large window and seat set into it.

There were various people around the room, up the ladders and reading in hidden away seating areas. When Deanna finally brought her attention back to the centre of the room she saw a huge ornate wooden and green leather desk. In the large, high backed green leather chair behind it, a man sat watching her intently.

– It is the Demon in Me, Kate Trinity

That man would change everything for her. In ways she never imagined. And plenty ways she never wanted. Deanna must come to terms with who she is and how the people in her life impact her decisions. But all the answers she needs are available to her if she’s willing to ask.

Sometimes I wonder how Deanna is getting on in her world. And it’s tempting to go back and find out -what’s she doing now, did the war happen, who won- but I don’t think it’s a story that will ever be more than those three books. It is the Demon in Me, Sheriff of the Eternal Law, and Becoming the Demon.

But who knows, maybe one day I’ll set another trilogy in the same world but with different characters.

About the author:

11 countries, 2 degrees, a love of animals, and all things supernatural. When Kate isn’t writing she’s baking and loves to decorate cakes in unusual ways. Brought up around steam trains, her father was an engine driver and her mother a nurse in St. Luke’s. The eldest of five siblings and with 2 children of her own her family is a large one. After the break up of her marriage and becoming unwell Kate began to write, and never stopped. Her world is filled with gods and demons, monsters and fae.

About the book:

A wickedly good novel about magic, curses, witches, and demons.
Born a witch, Deanna knew she had powers but not the extent of them.
Her parents and their coven bound her to keep her safe from the demons that wanted to find her.
But as her powers grew, the bindings weakened and they were found.
She must be unbound quickly as only she has the power to fight off the demons.
But what she discovers changes everything.
Her place in this world is not as she thought.
The time has come to make a decision and the lives of her family and their coven rest on it.
‘It Is The Demon In Me’ is the first in a three part series about Deanna, her family, and their true bloodline.
When your whole world changes, do you use fight or flight?

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Jon Budd, author of The Legend Of The Washo Gold.

Presenting Jon Budd…

Writing is a Lot like Making Music

Writing is a lot like playing music. The goals of both are to create something that you can feel good about. The challenge is how to do it. One of the hardest parts is starting. When you begin something, whether it’s a piece of writing or learning how to play an instrument or a song, you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. You’re not really sure if you can even create anything worthwhile. Sometimes it can be like stepping out of your front door to go on a long journey without knowing where you are going. Fear of the unknown can be a difficult obstacle to overcome. A good quantity of blind faith is required. Sometimes, the crucial first step of any endeavor is to say, “Damn the torpedoes” and just take that step and start!

Commitment is also an integral part in creating music and literature. This, especially in the face of long dry periods where despite your efforts, there are no, clear, positive results readily apparent. It can be so easy to just give up. But, this is where the rubber meets the road. One has to fight through these dark periods.

There is probably a hatful of tricks to help the artist work through these droughts. The one that I have found useful for both music and literature is to focus my goal not necessarily on the outcome, but on the process. Just how do you do that, you ask? Well, the answer is I reward myself every day that I write or practice music by keeping a very simple, handwritten, data sheet documenting my work. For example, for my music, I take a sheet of lined, notebook, paper. At the top of the page, I write, “Guitar Practice” and the year. Then, I number the lines below from one to twelve. These numbers are for each month. Then, for each day of the month that I practice for at least one hour a day, I list the calendar number for the day (i.e. 10: 1, 2, 3…). Then, I challenge myself to make and break records of consecutive days that I practiced. My current record is 141 consecutive days. Using this technique, you can actually see progress, if not immediately in your performance level, then in your commitment level. You are rewarded for increasing your commitment. When you increase your commitment, you work yourself closer to achieving your goal of actually improving your art and creating something worthwhile. I have these sheets going back years now and it has helped me achieve things musically that I thought I would never come close to. I even track my scales and songs that I work on in this manner.

Like music, an artist can also use this simple technique for creating literature. Instead of practicing guitar for an hour, write as hard as you can for one hour a day. Make your data sheet, shut out the world, and begin by focusing on one chapter per day. Below the list of months on your data sheet, when you begin, list the chapters one to ten. It’s alright, you will eventually end up with many more chapters, but ten is good number to start. Then, put a little hash mark next to each chapter as you work on them each day. For example, the first day, you work on Chapter One as hard as you can for just one hour. Start by just explaining to yourself what this chapter is about. Then, put a hash mark down for Chapter One. On the next day, do the same thing for your Chapter Two. Do this until you have worked through the entire ten chapters. You now at least have a beginning and an end to your novel, with maybe some good stuff in between. This is your first rough draft. You spend the rest of the time improving it.

If you are doing fiction, you can even list your characters and put hash marks by their names on your data sheet. Spend an hour a day, just writing about your characters. Who are they? What are they like? Who do they remind you of? This is one way you can develop deep, rich, fictional characters.

Hopefully, with this first step out of the door and the commitment you document on your data sheet, you will look up from your work somewhere down the road and see some real movement toward the goal of creating something worthwhile that you feel good about.

About the author:

About the book:

To prevent a repeat of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Hank, a modern day Native American Indian, overcomes his doubts about his tribe’s ancient religion and leads a war party to recover a cursed Indian treasure.

Succumbing to the genocide brought down upon them during the infamous 1849 California Gold Rush, the Washo Indians were teetering on the brink of extinction. With the help of a mysterious stranger, they devised an ingenious plan to survive. Many years later, when the secret of their survival is threatened, the tribe appoints a modern day warrior to lead a war party to San Francisco to recover stolen Indian treasure and secure the secret of the Washo Gold.

This novel enables the reader to experience the infamous 1849 California Gold Rush from the perspective of a tribe of Native American Indians who lived through it.

Related Post: Author Interview: Jon Budd

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Patrick A. Roland, author of Unpacked Sparkle.

Presenting Patrick A. Roland…

Why I Write

To the boys in Kindergarten who used to throw rocks at me at the bus stop, making me scared to even go to school: I’m not afraid of you anymore.

About the author:

About the book:

Over a year ago, I left a Mariah Carey concert in Las Vegas after six songs. I had gone on the trip as a present to myself for turning forty. But I couldn’t enjoy it. I was high on multiple drugs, but mostly crystal meth, and extremely drunk. I had been this way the majority of the year and a half since my partner Pack had suddenly passed away.
I found him dead on the bathroom floor one January morning while I was getting ready for work. The police told me I had no rights in my own home and asked me to leave. This was before gay marriage became legal. Life as I knew it changed instantly.
His family pretended I didn’t exist. They mauled our home the day he died, leaving it a ravaged mess. I was kicked out of that home. I was also disinvited to his funeral. In eight days I lost everything that mattered. Not even the law protected me from this.
So I got high in an effort to shoulder the pain. It didn’t work. I carried the heavy weight of unresolved complicated grief and addiction on my back. It was like an elephant. A large, unwieldy elephant that wanted me to die.
No longer able to participate in anything that mattered and unwilling to bear this burden anymore, I went back to my hotel room on the twenty-sixth floor of a casino and looked out on the sparkly lights below. I wanted to be in the light. So I opened the window and decided to jump.
But God intervened. My mother had somehow found me. Help came and I surrendered to the powerlessness of my situation. I asked God to help me. I stayed and I fought and I learned how to love myself. I put on a pair of sparkly shoes I had bought for that barely attended concert and I walked in to the rooms of Crystal Meth Anonymous. I had bought the sparkly shoes hoping Mariah would see me in the audience. Though she didn’t get the chance, you did. You all embraced me and my sparkly shoes. They have become my calling card of experience, strength, and hope.

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Jen Benjamin, author of Follow Me Home.

Presenting Jen Benjamin…

Writing

Some people knit. Some bake. Some build cars or race cars or collect cars, while others prefer to take a trip back in time and ride horses. There are those who like to jog and those who like to garden. There are movie buffs and frequent museum visitors and people who spend hours upon hours playing chess. Or Candy Crush.

This world is flooded with ways people can amuse themselves. I amuse myself by writing.

I’m definitely not special. There are plenty of people who write as a hobby. And, if I’m going to be honest (which I can easily do when I’m staring at a computer screen instead of a person), we writers may among the more narcissistic members of the human race. Not in the pathological, personality disorder kind of way. Writers can be very lovely people. But when I write it’s fun because it’s a little like being God.

Hold please while I wait for lightning bolts…

Okay. I’m clear. God knows what I meant. It’s all good.

When I write novels (which I do in more than one genre and more than one name), I get to create a world that fits onto pages and characters to fill it up. And, like real, live humans, they don’t always do what they’re supposed to. I can make a person look a certain way, have certain mannerisms, use certain slang and, somehow, they always end up surprising me. Sometimes they get themselves into big messes and I have to rescue them.

It’s intoxicating.

I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil. I wish I could say that writing for so many years has made me into a master wordsmith, but that hasn’t happened yet. What has happened is the realization that I will never grow tired of making up stories.

My first romantic comedy is called Follow Me Home and my first romantic comedy heroine is a little like me. She’s a writer, she has bad hair and she’s a little socially awkward. But the similarities end there because, unlike me, she’s a bestselling author who has a book being adapted for film.

The idea for Follow Me Home came to fruition thanks to a bizarre, embarrassing dream I had one night. In the dream, I was engaged to a young celebrity (young as in I’m in my thirties and he was in his twenties). It was a bizarre dream where I took him to a high school reunion and told all my friends it was an arranged marriage. As though an arranged marriage in the 21^st Century is less odd than some old cougar with a young, tall drink of water…

Not long after I had the dream, November came along. Many people know that November means National Novel Writing Month. If you don’t know what that is, it’s when over-caffeinated writers from all over gather together on the Internet as they each try to pound out a novel in thirty days for no reason other than to make themselves do it. It’s pure torture and so much fun. Some people run marathons. Other people write entire novels in a month. And if there are people who do both, they need to be captured with giant nets and studied because I’m sure they’re not human.

That particular November, I didn’t have any certain idea for a novel so I decided to write one based on one of my recent dreams. I tend to have vivid, peculiar dreams so I had a few to choose from. The one with the engagement to the young celebrity was the least bizarre and seemed like the best route for a story. That was the birth of my first Rom Com.

Follow Me Home is a lighthearted tale that I hope will make people smile, because I wasn’t setting out to write a literary masterpiece. I amuse myself by writing and my only hope is to amuse the reader who gives me a chance.

About the author:

Jen Benjamin is a newspaper writer who enjoys fiction when she gets time away from writing facts. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, daughter and various furry creatures. When she isn’t writing, Jen enjoys photography, reading, catching re-runs of Frasier and playing the violin. She used to play the violin for church and various other events, but now just plays for herself (and still has nightmares about her one gig as a strolling violinist!).

Contact Details:
Email: authorjenbenjamin@gmail.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorjenbenjamin
Twitter: @jenbenjam.

About the book:

When writer Katie Kendall moves to LA to turn her best-selling novel into a film, she is pretty sure it should be the happiest time of her life. But with an unsupportive husband who suddenly files for divorce, the paparazzi assuming she’s having a fling with the leading actor, and her friends left miles away in her old hometown, she begins to think she’s made a big mistake.
Can her new crowd of friends help her through these times? And could those paparazzi snappers have a point about that leading actor…?
This witty romantic comedic debut novel by Jen Benjamin is a tour de force that will have you coming home to it again and again.

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com

Today, at TRB Lounge, we are hosting author Jasmine Farrell, author of Phoenixes Groomed As Genesis Doves.

Presenting Jasmine Farrell…

Self Discovery: The Foundation to Finding Yourself

My initial step on the path to self-discovery wasn’t an intentional one. I merely woke up one morning in December of 2014, remained in bed for a few minutes in silence and focused on my breathing. Prior to that moment, I was beginning to question my faith, what I had been taught, my level of self-love and whether I honestly viewed myself in a positive light (which wasn’t so affirmative, I should add). Hence the not-so random-subconscious decision to wake up one morning in silence. In the days after that morning in 2014, I began to meditate on the things and people I was grateful for. From there I would alternate between silence and gratitude. I eventually began to read some books about meditation, its benefits, the reason for its demonization and its correlation with self-discovery.

Self-discovery is not a beautiful journey that makes you smile and feel giddy all the time. It’s sometimes messy because when you self-reflect, you begin to hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make. You begin to discover parts of yourself that aren’t so nice and flaws that would make you cringe if you knew someone else who had those same flaws. Nonetheless, the journey is imperative—and priceless!

If you are not sure where to start, why don’t you try the challenges below:

Media Detox:

We are all media junkies. Let’s be real. Whether it’s social media, television, news articles that are doused in yellow journalism, gossip magazines, YouTube or everything all at once, we love to spend hours feeding ourselves whatever media is on offer. While social media has its benefits, as does as a moderate consumption of media too much of it can flood our minds, causing us to drown out what our gut is attempting to say—in addition to muting our own insight and yelling out what media has to say for us. We’ve drowned ourselves with such a copious amount of media that we sometimes look to media to think for us. Because God forbid we might have a mind of our own that isn’t in alignment with media.

Challenge: Do not grab your phone and check your social media accounts when you first wake up and just before you go to bed. Subtract two hours of your television viewing or your video streaming time. Substitute it with an activity that involves connecting with a loved one—in person OR on the phone (this does not include texting). If no one is available, how about making some arts and crafts or coloring? Yes, I said it: Color in a coloring book.

Side note: Some of you have jobs that require you to engage in media. If so, then hustle, Queen. Nevertheless, you can still cut it back during your personal media surfing time!

There Are Beautiful Moments Surrounding You:

Gazing outwardly and taking in life as it plays out around you is a lovely habit to adopt. While walking to work or venturing off to the store, look around you. Stop internalizing what you did wrong the other day. Roll your eyes and move forward from that person in front of you who randomly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to check their phone. Breathe in slowly, exhale and really look around you. Did you catch the baby giggling at the sight of big bubbles being blown by the mother, or feel the light breeze on a hot-ass I’m-about-to-be-a-cooked-meal-for-a-cannibal day?

Being in the present moment aids you in discovering what you like and what you abhor. It allows you to open up and truly observe the things and people you may have been depreciating. Sometimes in the midst of being present in the moment, you may realize the main person you have been depreciating was yourself.

For me: Being in the moment also helps my common NYC anxieties and my intrusive thoughts. If I’m focused on what’s going on externally, I won’t be too harsh with what’s going on internally.

Challenge: Whenever you can, slow down. Walk a little slower, look at the trees, the homes and the colors that grace your eyeballs. Breathe. Slow down. Observe. Breathe and repeat!

Throwbacks!

Remember the hobbies or activities you used to engage in a few years back that made you smile like you were related to Mr. Kool-Aid? Reflect on that allotted hobby or activity and really consider if you lost interest or whether life happened and you became too busy.

Challenge: Find time for the activity/hobby you love. Make time for it! The time you surrendered from social media can be used for this challenge!

In a society that encourages us to love and be ourselves unapologetically, yet dehumanizes, exploits and subtly belittles us, it can be quite natural to second-guess our value. It is understandable that you may feel as though you are unworthy to wholeheartedly love yourself. Many of us were taught to put ourselves last, in order to obtain happiness or rewards in the long run (how is that working out for you?). A few of us were even discouraged from even showing an ounce of confidence lest we became “cocky”. Confidence is not cocky. Knowing you’re dope all by yourself just as much as the next person isn’t cocky. Devaluing another being while boosting up your own self-esteem—that is cocky.

Push through the cognitive dissonance with a new mentality that is receptive to this:

You ARE worthy to love, know and understand yourself.

How else will you shed your light brightly, love others and live life with purpose?

About the author:

Jasmine Farrell is a freelance writer and blogger. From Brooklyn, NY, she has a Bachelor’s in Communications and she loves red velvet cake. Writing in her Grandmother’s memo pads is included into her repertoire of writings. Creative writing is her niche. She loves reading, randomly dancing and creating off-key ballads.

About the book:

Phoenixes Groomed as Genesis Doves is a collection of poetry that draws the reader into the world of personal identity, inner growth and the complexity of human relationships. Ordinary and common images, especially ones found in nature, are used to craft poems that appeal to the uncommon, the suppressed and the others. Filled with incredible grace and accessible wisdom, the poems explore a wide range of complex emotional themes. With unexpected metaphors and sparkling similes, the pieces vary in rhythm and theme making each one like a foil-wrapped candy: something to savor, enjoying each new bright color on the tongue.

If you are an author and wish to be featured as our guest or if you are a publicist and want to get your author’s guest post on TRB, then please get in touch through e-mail at thereadingbud@gmail.com