First Chapter Plus e-Magazine February 2024 Issue

First Chapter Plus is the e-Magazine where readers connect with Indie Authors and their work.

FEBRUARY 2024

FIRST CHAPTER PLUS CONNECTING READERS TO INDIE BOOKS

BAREFOOT LIBRARIAN Make Every Day a Celebration of Inclusive Love

Here’s an Odyssey of How a Vocabulary Book Comes To Be by Carolyn Howard-Johnson HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT’S CRITIQUES

Meets the Author

MICHAEL PRONKO

I Have Something to Say Note from the Editor

HOW TO CHOOSE... Knits and Reads, or Chocolates and Roses?

by Susan Violante

I love Valentine’s Day. But for me ‘romance’ was never guaranteed on February 14th. I never got chocolates or flowers throughout high school, as I could never coordinate having an admirer for Valentine’s.

Then I went to college and freshmen year went, nothing. Sophomore, nothing. And Junior, neither!

Susan Violante Managing Editor

When Senior Year's Valentine’s came by I decided not to take any more chances and invited all my male friends for dinner but they would be allowed to join only if they brought me roses. Thanks to my cooking skills and accomplished Italian menu repertoire the dinner was a success.

I got a dozen handsome young men bring me roses for Valentine’s Day. However, it wasn’t until I stepped outside that I realized my mother’s rose garden was gone!

Since then I have always given myself a book and new yarn for Valentine’s and stopped expecting the chocolates and flowers... somehow though they began to make their way to me the day before the 14th of February 34 years ago; when I met my husband...

May you have plenty of both!

ABOUT ME Born and raised in Venezuela of Italian immigrants, Susan completed a BA in Political Science and Business Administration before moving to the US . She built a career as a Business Analyst/Accountant, while keeping herself active as a freelance writer in the US; publishing articles, poetry, children’s stories, and illustrations since 1996. She published her first book in 2009, and released her revised edition: Innocent War: Behind An Immigrant’s Past in 2011. Her picture book: Tuma: The Tribe’s Little Princess was published in early 2013 under her own label. Currently, Susan Violante is the Managing Editor/CEO/ Partner of I Have Something to Say Press and Book By Book Publicity, Author, Reviewer, Publicist and Publisher. She resides in Austin, TX with her husband Michel and her dogs, Canela and Karina,

IN THIS ISSUE 03 Book Videos 04 The Podcast of the Month

05 Barefoot Librarian 07 Book of the Month

09 Meet the Author 12 Authors & Books 15 First Chapter Plus Columnist 18 Columnist Caroline Howard-Johnson 21 Featured Book & Author 22 How to Series

100% GREEN First Chapter Plus e-magazine IS Environment conscious. Please consider the environment before printing.

MANAGING EDITORS Susan Violante & Sheri Hoyte CREATIVE EDITOR Janice Miller

BOOK VIDEOS The best tool in any book campaign!

Just like movie trailers, book videos allow the audience to take a peek at a book and get a feeling about it.It also gives information about the author as well as, what others think about the book. All this in a very visual way in a short time frame which can be share in all social media platforms.

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PODCAST OF THE MONTH The

The INSIDE scoop

About "My Journal" and the inspiration behind writing the book The transformative power of journaling Individual pacing and self-acceptance Journaling as a daily routine Measuring your progress What's next for Robert O'Toole?

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Robert L. O'Toole is an international figure skating coach with over 47 years of experience coaching athletes from the grassroots to the Olympic level. His positive and motivational approach to coaching is his trademark, along with his passion and love of sport. He has inspired thousands of athletes to achieve excellence in sport and beyond. My Journal is his debut entry into the literary world. Learn more about Robert O'Toole and his work at:

w ww.robertotooleauthor.com www.facebook.com/robertotooleauthor www.instagram.com/robertotooleauthor

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Make Every Day a Celebration of Inclusive Love

"let’s not limit our celebration of love to what some consider “acceptable” love, and let’s not limit our celebration of love just to February. ."

-THE BAREFOOT LIBRARIAN-

I dislike that holidays seem to designate a season where specific attributes should be celebrated. For instance, Thanksgiving is the season to feel grateful. Christmas is the season to remember those with less than us and give to them so they, too, can celebrate the holiday. New Year’s is when we should all rethink our lives and set goals to improve. And February brings Valentine’s Day and the season to celebrate love, mainly romantic love. I have expressed this opinion before, but gratitude, generosity, empathy, setting goals to be better humans, celebrating love, etc., should never be limited to a specific time of year. These are all attributes we should embrace and incorporate into our lives all year. But today, I want to focus on love since that is what the retail world is pushing us to celebrate this month. You might be asking, what does this have to do with children’s literature? Hang it in there; I will get there. Reads Valentine’s Day can be a difficult day for children (and adults). The emphasis is on having a romantic partner to celebrate your love with. So first, I think we must teach children that love of any kind should be celebrated – and that it should be celebrated all year long! Love can be so many things. We love our pets, friends, family, homes, bodies, hometowns, ourselves, etc., and of course, books! Children’s literature is full of examples of all these types of love. However, love of all types is under siege now, and we must defend and embrace it all year long. When love l ooks different, it is attacked. Books for children depicting love outside of the male/female relationship are being banned. Love is an emotion, a celebration, and love is love! Children need to feel safe to express their love. School librarians are facing challenging times that limit their ability to provide children access to books that teach them to love themselves and whomever they want. It is incumbent upon bookstores, public libraries, educators, and parents to ensure these books are available to children outside the school environment. And as you read this article, Valentine’s Day has just passed. But, let’s not limit our celebration of love to what some consider “acceptable” love, and let’s not limit our celebration of love just to February.

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Love You Too

Written by Ziggy Marley ISBN: 9781617753107 Published by: Akashic Books, Ltd. (2014)

Words from the song by Ziggy Marley, inspired by his daughter. Diverse characters and animals depict all kinds of love – family, friends, animals, insects, and even the love of our planet Earth. Pictures are cheerful, playful, and full of bright colors. The refrain, “I love you too!” repeats throughout the book.

Luna Loves Library Day Written by Joseph Coelho SBN: 978-1610676755 Publisher: Kane/Miller Book Publishers (2017)

This poignant story illustrates how those who do not speak English in our country can feel shamed and discriminated against. A young girl and her grandmother go about doing their everyday errands - shopping at the grocery store and riding the bus. The lack of communication causes cold dismissal or anger from the grocer and the bus driver. The grandmother feels humiliated, and the young girl is frightened. The young girl becomes too a afraid to go out. But with the love and encouragement of her grandmother, they face their adversities together with strength and dignity.

Eve Panzer reviews books for Reader Views Kids as well as her own business, Barefoot Librarian. Monthly she publishes the Barefoot Librarian Newsletter.She sells children’s books published by Barefoot Books and Usborne Books & More at book fairs, educational conferences, community events, and online. She earned her Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas in Austin and worked as a school librarian before retiring to start her own business.

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BOOK OF THE MONTH

LOVE HATE LAW A kramer-O’Hara Legal Romance Mark M. Bello

10 Grand Publications (2023) ISBN 978-1956595185

Romance

85 Reviewed by Kathy Stickles for Reader Views (01/2023) “Love Hate Law – A Kramer-O’Hara Legal Romance” is the story of two great characters. Andrea Kramer is a young lawyer who has just opened her own practice in Saline, a small town near the city of Ann Arbor in Michigan. Andrea has decided that big cities and firms are not for her. She really wants to help people, so she has returned to this little town where she hopes to make a difference. Michael O’Hara is a big-time lawyer working in a large firm in Michigan. He is handsome, smart, and extremely arrogant due to his many successes in the courtroom in the past. Michael is also hoping to become a partner in the firm and is about to be used by his supervisors in a very unfair way that may end his career...As with all of Mr. Bello’ s previous books, everything about “Love Hate Law” is ideal… riveting plot, characters that are real and that you can come to care about, excellent dialogue, and enough twists and turns to keep your attention throughout. I loved it and I am sure that you will as well. I am excited to see what happens as the series goes on. 5 Stars!!

To Read complete review visit readerviews.com

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BOOK OF THE MONTH

SKYLER & KINA

Author Michael C. Barrett

JM done

Independently Published (2023) ISBN 979-8869987051

JM done

encha nted Reviewed by Megan Weiss for Reader Views (02/2023) “ Skyler & Kina” is the third book in Michael C. Barrett’s Little Bram series. Skyler Bram is excited to start her Junior year at Regent High along with her sister, Kina Dunlap. In the honeymoon phase of a new relationship with her first girlfriend, Bailey, and armed with a throng of loyal, passionate friends, she is ready for anything the crazy year might throw at her. Whether it is school dances, learning how to stand up for herself, or working at her parents’ video store, it seems like there is nothing she cannot handle and that everything is as it should be. As any teenager comes to learn, however, all good things must come to an end sometimes, even if you could have never imagined that end coming...“Skyler & Kina” is a slow-burn read that eases you in and then ramps up in intensity as the pages turn and readers get further embroiled in Skyler’s and Kina’s problems and triumphs. Watching Skyler slowly transform from a shy, reserved girl to a young woman who, though still slightly cringes at overly mushy emotions and displays of affection, is becoming more comfortable with embracing her own confidence. I can only imagine what Michael C. Barrett might have in store for readers should there be future Little Bram books, such as, say, for senior year? I encourage teen and young adult readers to pick up not only “Skyler & Kina,” but all three books in the Little Bram series. 85

To Read complete review visit readerviews.com

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Michael Pronko Meets the Author

Hi Michael. Welcome back to Reader Views! Tell us a bit about the latest novel in your Detective Hiroshi series, Shitamachi Scam.

In Tokyo, there isn’t always respect for older people. Sometimes, it’s the opposite.

After the suspicious deaths of a seventy-something woman and a student recluse, Detective Hiroshi tracks down a gang of scammers who target retirees, robbing them of their pensions, life savings, and even the deeds to their homes. Hiroshi teams up with Detective Ishii, who’s been running a women’s crime task force. Together, they find out who has been ripping off the pensions, life savings, and deeds to homes in Shitamachi, the older, eastern side of the city. With his personal life on hold (almost), Hiroshi finds out how complex the traditional life of Tokyo still is. With old-school Detective Takamatsu and ex-sumo wrestler Chief Sakaguchi watching his back, he finds out who’s behind the scams, and who’s behind the scammers.

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Hiroshi works closely with Ishii, a detective in charge of a task force on crimes against women. This focus on crimes against women is relatively new. Ishii has set up a sting for a sagi gang targeting older people, mainly women, to scam them out of money, deeds, and anything else they can get. Ishii is devastated when her sting goes wrong, but they work together with their different approaches to get to the bottom of the crimes. Ishii is the tougher of the two in a street fight, but Hiroshi pulls small bits of evidence together more quickly. They work well together with their different approaches and contrasting characters. Can you elaborate on the dynamics of the partnership between Detective Hiroshi and Detective Ishii and how it enriches the story? Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is a little, as the Japanese say, “outside the mosquito net.” He studied accounting in Boston, became fluent in English, and works in the homicide division. He was hired for the simple reason that most murders connect to financial crimes and often have an international connection requiring English. Unfortunately, he’s too squeamish to scour crime scenes, but makes up for it by following money trails, compiling evidence, and acting on his sense about people. He teams up with Detective Takamatsu, who’s street savvy and results oriented. His boss in homicide, Sakaguchi, is an ex-sumo wrestler, huge in size but calm and focused. The world they live in is Tokyo with all its back alleys, complex relations, and secrets layered on secrets. The sheer size and complexity of the city frustrates their efforts every time.. For readers new to your work, can you briefly introduce Detective Hiroshi Shimizu and other key characters along with what they should know about the world of Detective Hiroshi before diving into Shitamachi Scam? 85

What is the shitamachi area of Tokyo? How does this setting influence the story, and what unique elements does it bring to the series?

How do you balance the need to explain cultural nuances of Tokyo and Japan for an international audience without oversimplifying or generalizing? The series often delves into the intricacies of Japanese culture and society. How do you ensure accuracy and sensitivity in your depiction of these elements? This is a very tricky thing for all novelists, to reduce the world enough to comprehend it without oversimplifying, compressing, or erasing the intricate texture of life. Even though I’ve lived in Japan for twenty- some years, I still need to check details, background, and information. I have good friends who answer picky little questions. I live in Tokyo, so I work with Japanese colleagues and students every day. My students are a constant source of input in what they say about the novels and films we study. At the end of the day, one novel can only hold so much detail, so I usually overwrite in the first drafts, and then select the most relevant elements in the later The eastern, older side of Tokyo has long been called shitamachi. That’s translated as “lower town,” but it encompasses a very different urban outlook. It’s the more traditional area of Tokyo, with small neighborhood homes, wooden shops, centuries-old temples, and a slower pace of life. The rest of Tokyo has huge crosswalks, tall skyscrapers, and the pursuit of profit, but shitamachi tends to cling to its past forms.

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drafts, ones I’m sure of.I believe literature generalizes through specifics, but that generalizing can, and should, be done sensitively and compassionately.

How did you approach the depiction of the clash between Tokyo’s traditional values and modern realities? I think this is one of the most common cultural themes of Japan. It’s hard to know how to keep the good parts of the past and yet work toward much needed changes. That’s just such a daily experience, whether in the realm of corporate accounting, police procedures, education (my other profession), or in the details of reforming a shopping street or replacing bathroom fixtures. Is old better for its time-tested appeal, or is new an upgrade, more functional or developed? It’s hard to decide what to keep and what to make new. I find that to be a constant conflict in Japan, but also part of the fascinating tension of life here. T he theme of scams targeting the elderly is central to this book. What inspired you to explore this issue, and what research did you undertake to portray it authentically? Were there any specific challenges you faced when writing about the shitamachi area or the scamming plotline in Shitamachi Scam? I ’ve never been scammed myself, but a few of my friends’ parents have been scammed. It’s a recurring news item. Almost every week another tricky crime is exposed. Every single ATM in Japan has a warning sign about sagi scams. So, my inspiration there comes from pure outrage. What a thing to do to some retired person! But writing about shitamachi was easy. I love that part of Tokyo and wander around there as often as I can. It feels like a totally different city from the areas with huge developments and more commercial focus. I like those go- go areas, too, but differently. Shitamachi is very special in how it preserves older cultural forms and traditional energies.

The balance between personal life and professional duty is a recurring theme for Detective Hiroshi. How do you explore this conflict in Shitamachi Scam?

Everyone manages that tightrope walk. Everyone has obligations and desires pulling on them, a sense of duty and a sense of fun in eternal compromise, though some lucky few have found the right balance. Hiroshi has to work at sorting that out like everyone else. In this new novel, that balance became much more difficult. He had to sacrifice home life for work life, and neither he, his colleagues, nor his girlfriend are very happy about it.

Read Full Interview

ABOUT Michael: Michael Pronko is a Tokyo-based author who writes in three genres—murder, memoir, and music. He has written about Japanese culture, art, jazz, society, architecture, and politics for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, Artscape Japan, as well as other publications. He has appeared on NHK and Nippon Television doing video versions of his essays. He runs his own website, Jazz in Japan (www.jazzinjapan.com). Day-job-wise, he teaches American Literature and Culture (novels, film, art, and music) at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. After discussing Kurt Vonnegut or Jackson Pollock in class he’s in the right frame of mind to wander Tokyo contemplating its intensity.

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AUTHORS

& BOOKS

FICTION-PARANORMAL THRILLER

NOFICTION-POETRY/LBGTQ+

The Copper Isle Ghostslayer

World Castle Publishing (2024) Author: Terri Greening

ISBN 9798891261303 Tradeback / 248 Pages

$13.99

VIEW ON AMAZON

Layla Devereaux, an exceptionally perceptive nature photographer and former investigative journalist, travels to an isolated island and finds that it is inhabited by ghosts as she struggles to solve the mystery of who really killed a lighthouse tour guide there the previous summer and free her brother from prison for a murder he didn't commit.

FICTION-CRIME ACTION/ADVENTURE

Life has Other Plans Author: A. Gavazzoni Self-Published KDP/Adriana Gavazzoni/Brazil (2021)

Tradeback / 368 Pages ISBN: 978-0998553917

$16.99 VIEW ON AMAZON

Nadia goes on a journey after dealing with bad relationships and heartbreak. She feels that something missing in her life and starts exploring new love, spirituality and diving deeper to question religion. On this journey Nadia learns more than she ever expected and was leaves the reader wanting more.

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Grand Prize Winners!

2022 LITERARY AWARD FICTION

www. readerviews com/literaryawards

Your paragraph text

Marisa Billions

Alex Thornbury

Elizabeth Conte

View in Amazon

2022 LITERARY AWARD NON-FICTION Grand Prize Winners!

www. readerviews com/literaryawards

Your paragraph text

Gary S. Berger

Michael DiRuggiero

Ron Malhotra

Emily Tsitrian

View in Amazon

FIRST CHAPTER PLUS COLUMNIST

Women in Horror Month May Be Gone But Women Authors are Still Writing

BY DAWN COLCLASURE

85 Elana Gomel is another woman horror author who has works published in both anthologies and magazines. Her book, City of Blood and Bone (PsychoToxin Press, 2023), is a combination of science fiction and horror. She has written other horror books such as Girl of Light (Vraeyda Literary, 2022) and Nightwood: All Fairy Tales were History Once (Crystal Lake Publishing, 2023). Amy Grech has had numerous works of speculative fiction published in various magazines, as well as anthologies, such as Even in the Grave (Neoparadoxa, 2022) and Hush, Don't Wake the Monster, a Women in Horror Anthology (Twisted Wing Productions, 2023). Her most recent book, A Shadow of Your Former Self (Alien Buddha Press, 2023), contains poetry as well as horror stories. With the creation of Women in Horror Month in 2010, women authors who wrote horror cheered. In a genre long dominated by male authors, the time had come for women horror authors to be recognized. Sadly, due to backlash, the organization behind Women in Horror Month ended the annual celebration in March 2021, but women horror authors have pressed on. These writers continue to write horror stories entertaining readers worldwide. This list of women horror authors must include the woman who started it all: Mary Shelley. While eighteen years old and still Mary Wollstonecraft, she cried “Challenge accepted!” and, on a bet, wrote the scariest story she could imagine, which we all came to know and love as Frankenstein. Her boyfriend, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who later became her husband, loved the story so much that he encouraged her to turn it into a novel. Hers was the first to stand out as a horror novel written by a woman.

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Susan E. Rogers is the author of the horror novel Death in the Cards (PsychoToxin Press, 2023). She has also had horror stories published in magazines and anthologies as well, among them the Night Terrors 12 (Scare Street, 2021) and 101 Proof Horror (Czykmate Productions, 2021). She has a horror novella in the works for a 2024 release by PsychoToxin Press as well as a horror/mystery novel, Haunted in Paradise, slated for publication by Grendel Press this year.

Jennifer Horgan likewise writes horror short stories. She has had horror stories published in the anthologies 666 Flags (PsychoToxin Press, 2023) and Campfire Tales (PsychoToxin Press, 2023).

Catherine Cavendish has a long list of horror novels and story collections to her credit. Some of her horror novels include The Haunting of Henderson Close (Flame Tree Press, 2019), Dark Observation (Flame Tree Press, 2022), The Crow Witch and Other Conjurings (Weird House Press, 2022) and Nemesis of the Gods (Weird House Press, 2023). Mia Delia is another up and coming woman horror author of novels as well as story collections. Her books include the novels Estate Sale (first edition Black Ink Fiction, 2023; second edition, Independently Published), the novellas Tell Me a Story and Discordant (Psychotoxin Press, 2023), and the collection Smile So Red and Other Tales of Madness (Anuci Press, 2024). Some other women horror authors rocking the scene include Angela Sylvaine , author of Frost Bite (Dark Matter Ink, 2023), Nikki R. Leigh , author of Her Teeth, Like Waves (Spooky House Press, 2023) and Lessons in Demoralization (DarkLit Press, 2022), and Tracey Nudd , author of Not Dead Yet (Independently Published, 2023). If poetry is your thing, women horror authors are writing horror poetry books too.K Vincent is one, having written three such books: Within Her Thoughts( Independently Published, 2023), Within Her Thoughts: Book Two (Independently Published, 2023) and Within Her Thoughts: Book Three (Independently Published, 2024).

Women authors have provided some amazing and entertaining work in the horror genre. With or without a Women in Horror Month, these

authors and many like them will continue to write in a i fast becoming one which they, too, can call their own.

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CHAPTER

FIRST CHAPTER PLUS COLUMNIST

LOST SOUL

By Dawn Colclasure ASIN B0BMKW8VFW View in Amazon

encha nted

Dana Mitchells leads a shattered life – until the day she decides to fight back against her abusers. This choice leads her on a dark road that leads to homelessness and despair. Can she find her way out of the darkness before it’s too late?

85 Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. She reviews books for Reader Views. She is also a freelance writer. She is the author of several books. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, websites and anthologies. Her websites are www.dawnbooks.com and Her Twitter: @dawncolclasure.

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Here’s an Odyssey of How a

I was in love with writing—and even grammar—long before I was in love with words. I became smitten with words about the same time I fell in love with my husband about sixty-three years ago. When we opened the door to our new one-bedroom apartment ($75. a month, I kid you not!), we found a tattered book that once belonged to a previous tenant. It was one of the early paperbacks (pocketbooks) called something like “A Word a Day” and we committed exactly that—one word a day—to memory before we went to sleep each night. We did it together. That list was spot-on for that time in our lives when we were both still undergraduates. It was a list of words that might appear on an SAT exam or a Graduate Record Exam (GRE). My vocabulary-intensity rating went up and down after that, mostly down. Jobs, children, a business interfered. But later it crescendoed along with my interest in poetry. And then one day decades later—a cloudy, uneventful day during our self-imposed isolation during the Days of Covid —an email from WordGenius appeared in my email box. I may have signed up for it. If I did, I don’t remember, and I was a bit annoyed. Spam, I thought. But I played their little games and got hooked on words again. Then the emails kept getting more frequent. New and features on language that were even more fun. It was a little like the internet in general, designed for addiction. I was especially intrigued with the words that were directly related to writing. They reminded me of a column I once wrote for a print magazine in the early 2000s for…was it Writer’s Magazine? I remembered what the column was called “Affecting Words” so I did a search in my computer and there they were. Every single column. Soon I was collecting from the new email games I subscribe to—names like WordDaily and WordGenius. Merriam-Webster has one, too. I was intrigued because I was learning more writing-related words even after a couple of decades in the publishing industry, let alone all my years in journalism and marketing. It didn’t occur to me I might use them in a book again. Been there, done that. I have a booklet called Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips published by Modern History Press. (Find it with the rest of my HowToDoItFrugally Series of books from that press at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXQL27T. That list is getting longer, and I started thinking about a kind of vocabulary reference book designed for my favorite niche market—writers! I would be based on the love of words—especially words associated with writing and from a writer’s associated needs from the fields of marketing, public relations, journalism…you get the idea. But it would also be a little memoirish, something like Carolyn See’s “Making a Literary Life. (https://bit.ly/LiteryLife).” She is now deceased and continues to inspire me, continues to make me grateful to be a writer.

Vocabulary Book Comes To Be by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

A Short Memoir on Loving Words (some of this was also published i n ISWG’s blog!)

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" The Wedding" by Dorothy West. This was West's first and only novel because she didn’t get around to storytelling until she was in her last decade. She breaks rules and makes it work. She also makes us understand a portion of black history and black intolerance that many of us didn’t know existed. And she inspired one of the chapters in my multi award-winning, out-of-print novel, “This Is the Place” available on Amazon new and used feature only. (That means I get no royalties!) "Travels with Charlie” by John Steinbeck is not fiction but it is literary. You might enjoy seeing nonfiction written with passion and style and artistry. Charlie was the last book Steinbeck wrote and the culmination of years of honing his craft.

"Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury is a touching novel that will be loved by those who liked the first book on this list. It beats his “Fahrenheit,” though far less famous.

"Dr. Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak. This book is worth the struggle required to sort out the Russian names. Hundreds of thousands of readers did it a few decades ago when we weren’t all so spoiled by authors who too often now cater to short attention spans and formulaic writing. Okay. So that's 10. I'll make it a baker’s dozen. No, more than that. A gift for readers who love nonfiction best. (Keep reading.)

“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy. This is a novel that holds up over the decades, especially for women (and men) who still suffer from gender prejudices.

"This is the Place" (see above) by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. It's a little romantic, a little memoirish, a little historical, a little women's. They're all good categories but I prefer a little literary. If I didn’t include this book among my favorites, I wouldn’t be giving you the truest list possible. Maybe my next novel should examine the mirror image twins of false pride and false modesty as its premise.

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For those swear that never read fiction, try James A. Michener. His novels are nonfiction-fat and researched so well that I have most of his annotated with marginalia to pass along to my grandkids when (if!) they are ever receptive! I liked “Hawaii” best. The paperback kept me busy on my subway rides to work in 1960 and the white paperback cover is still tainted by New York City soot. am betting that you don’t think there would be enough words in this category that I didn’t know or that I think you might not know. So, here’s a little test from those “Affecting Words” from so long ago. Can you define them or write an example of them without peeking at a dictionary?

Marginalia (Hint: In those days I called my marginalia annotations even though I knew what I was writing wasn’t academic enough for that hallowed term to be applied to my scribbles.)

Demiurgic Palimpsest Semantic Narrowing

Metonymy Asyndeton Antiphon

Synecdoche (one of my favorites. Maybe it will a future column right here on Susan Volante’s First Chapter Plus!)

Test yourself with those words. Or just join WordGenius.com and play with me. (No I don’t get paid for inviting you!) And no, I’m not going to tell you more about them. I want to share the fun with you. Or have you wait for my next project to do that for you (keep reading!) These old favorite writers’ words of mine have become a Work in Progress (WIP) for Modern History Press. I am hoping it will be released late in 2024. It’s possible. I have written way more than the first page of that book! Do you want to take bets on whether I get it finished? It, like most of my books, is turning out to be more time-consuming than I estimated. Still, I’m loving it because I have renewed and am fostering an old love. What more could a writer ask from reviving an old habit (or is it a hobby?) than the release of a new book?

M ore About This First Chapter Plus Contributor: Learn more about Carolyn Howard-Johnson at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com . Use her social networks for more resources, ideas, helpful books and more. For more writers’ resources on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FrugalBookPromo. For resources and more personal fun on Facebook: http://facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson. For writers resources of all kinds: https://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com. Idea: Get your cover images on Pinterest; you pin one of your author’s book cover images, let her know you did it with your Pinterest link, and she’ll pin one of yours: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson.

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FEATURED BOOK & AUTHOR

The

by Elizabeth Upton Ghost Writer

Synopsis

After the sudden death of Jenna's best friend Padma, Jenna discovers her unfinished story and vows to complete it in her honor. Set in medieval times, Jenna struggles with it until Padma steps in and helps her from beyond the grave. Jenna becomes a ghostwriter, guided by a ghost. When Jenna travels to Scotland’s Dunnottar Castle for research, she meets Sir Thomas deKeith, the handsome clan chief who captures her attention and her heart.

Publisher: Bowker Identifier Services (2022)

Fiction - Historical Tradeback - 561 pages ISBN: 9781732017559 $15.99 VIEW ON AMAZON

" This is a refreshing, gently compelling story rich in adventure and fantasy as well as real-life triumph over grief and loss. It is welcome respite for any reader weary of 21st century strife.” ~Amazon review - M.R. Wilson

"It would appeal to fans of historical romance who like a dash of paranormal thrown in." ~Judge, 10th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published E-book Awards

I consider myself fortunate in that I was raised in a family that valued learning. By the time I entered kindergarten, I knew how to read, print, and write in cursive. Bedtime stories were a mainstay, and trips to the local library were as regular as those to the grocery store. I had no way of knowing then, but they were instrumental in my becoming a writer. I'm all grown up now, writing historical fiction stories that I hope will find their way into the hands of an eager reader, ready to embark on an adventure that I've imagined, crafted, and tucked between the covers.

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HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT’S CRITIQUES

STEP/01 01 - APPROACH IT WITH AN OPEN MIND: BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK, BOTH POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE. REMEMBER THAT THE CRITIQUE IS AIMED AT HELPING YOU IMPROVE, NOT CRITICIZING YOUR ABILITIES. BESIDES FRESH EYES CAN SEE WHAT TIRED ONES OVER LOOK.

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02 - WAIT BEFORE REACTING:

TAKE TIME AFTER RECEIVING THE CRITIQUE BEFORE REACTING EMOTIONALLY. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO APPROACH FEEDBACK WITH A MORE OBJECTIVE MINDSET.

03 -READ THE CRITIQUE CAREFULLY:

TAKE TIME AFTER RECEIVING THE CRITIQUE BEFORE REACTING EMOTIONALLY. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO APPROACH FEEDBACK WITH A MORE OBJECTIVE MINDSET.

04 - ASK QUESTIONS:

IF THERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND OR IF YOU'D LIKE MORE CLARIFICATION ON A PARTICULAR POINT, DON'T HESITATE TO ASK QUESTIONS. A GOOD CRITIQUE SHOULD BE A TWO-WAY CONVERSATION. BUT DISCUSS AFTER LISTENING OR RWDING IT IN ITS ENTIRETY.

05- LOOK FOR PATTERNS:

IDENTIFY RECURRING COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS. IF MULTIPLE READERS MENTION SIMILAR ISSUES, THESE ARE LIKELY AREAS THAT NEED ATTENTION. RECOGNIZING PATTERNS CAN HELP YOU PRIORITIZE REVISIONS.

06 - FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE:

START WITH THE OVERARCHING FEEDBACK REGARDING PLOT, CHARACTERS, AND STRUCTURE. ADDRESSING MAJOR ISSUES FIRST CAN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE OVERALL QUALITY OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT.

07 - PRIORITIZE FEEDBACK:

STEP/01 9 - CELEBRATE STRENGTHS: TAKE NOTE OF THE POSITIVE ASPECTS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE CRITIQUE. KNOWING WHAT WORKS WELL IN YOUR MANUSCRIPT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS UNDERSTANDING AREAS THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT. 10 - ITERATE AND REPEAT: AFTER MAKING REVISIONS, CONSIDER HAVING YOUR MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUED AGAIN. MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF FEEDBACK CAN LEAD TO A MORE POLISHED AND REFINED FINAL PRODUCT. 08 - REVISE STRATEGICALLY: PLAN YOUR REVISIONS STRATEGICALLY. ADDRESS STRUCTURAL AND PLOT ISSUES BEFORE FINE- TUNING LANGUAGE AND STYLE. THIS ENSURES THAT YOU DON'T SPEND TIME PERFECTING SCENES THAT MIGHT LATER BE ALTERED OR REMOVED. NOT ALL FEEDBACK MAY BE EQUALLY RELEVANT OR ACTIONABLE. PRIORITIZE THE FEEDBACK THAT ALIGNS WITH YOUR VISION FOR THE STORY AND RESONATES WITH YOU.

STEP/01

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11 - EXPRESS GRATITUDE:

THANK THE REVIEWER FOR THEIR TIME AND EFFORT. WHETHER THE FEEDBACK IS POSITIVE OR CHALLENGING, ACKNOWLEDGING THE TIME AND THOUGHT INVESTED IN THE CRITIQUE IS A PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. 12 -REFLECT ON THE PROCESS: CONSIDER THE CRITIQUE PROCESS AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE. REFLECT ON WHAT YOU'VE GAINED, BOTH IN TERMS OF IMPROVING YOUR MANUSCRIPT AND DEVELOPING YOUR SKILLS AS A WRITER. TRY TO ESTABLISH ONGOING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CRITIQUE PARTNERS. REGULAR FEEDBACK FROM A TRUSTED GROUP CAN BE INSTRUMENTAL IN YOUR GROWTH AS A WRITER. 13 - USE CRITIQUE PARTNERS WISELY:

REMEMBER, THE GOAL OF A MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE IS NOT JUST TO FIX PROBLEMS BUT TO ENHANCE THE STRENGTHS OF YOUR WORK.

STEP/01

EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REFINE YOUR WRITING AND CREATE A STRONGER, MORE ENGAGING MANUSCRIPT.

STEP/01

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