Any Authors out there?

Everything except LibriVox (yes, this is where knitting gets discussed. Now includes non-LV Volunteers Wanted projects)
StarFire
Posts: 167
Joined: January 10th, 2017, 7:53 pm
Location: Bay Area, California, USA

Post by StarFire »

I've done a few poems (none published) and i am working on a short story.
--Winter


"I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream"
- Van Goph
Nicholas19
Posts: 2251
Joined: June 27th, 2007, 7:04 am
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Contact:

Post by Nicholas19 »

In addition to the fiction book posted above, Green Monk of Tremn, Book I, I have also recently published a non-fiction work on attaining inner balance and equanimity in our lives.

It's called Mindfulness: Five Ways to Achieve Real Happiness, True Knowledge and Inner Peace and it is the first book in the Five Ways to Be series. It's currently available for FREE on Amazon for the next several days (until Thursday), so I'd suggest you download it asap if you want to read it. I will be increasing the price on Friday. Here's a brief description of the book:
How can we be truly happy? How can we achieve inner peace and mindfulness? How can we maintain true balance in our lives? What is our true purpose in this world? These questions and more are answered in Mindfulness: Five Ways to Achieve Real Happiness, True Knowledge and Inner Peace. I have searched out the key books on wisdom and philosophy which hold answers to these questions and has extracted the core teachings and principles which they contain. I have encapsulated these into Five ‘Ways to Be’, which are patterns or ways of living in harmony with one’s higher self. There are also ‘Five Practices’ which accompany these Ways to Be, giving a practical method of developing the right attitudes, behaviour and mindset to achieve a state of mindfulness and happiness. In addition, for each practice, he lists a number of steps for further development. These will allow the reader to take action immediately to put all the Ways to Be into practice.

Mindfulness means, simply defined, to be conscious or aware of something. In the context of this book, however, it also means achieving a mental state of awareness which allows you to embrace your higher nature while remaining conscious of the impermanence of all material things. This will allow you to achieve a state of balance which is called ‘equanimity’. The Five Ways to Be, therefore, can be described as the ‘philosophy of equanimity’. This book will help you to achieve a state of mindfulness and equanimity, so that you can live at one with yourself and your spirit, and feel true happiness and joy. Happiness is not just material pleasure. True happiness comes from within.

What will you learn in this book?

•How to be detached.
•How to be more generous.
•How to meditate.
•How to be at peace with yourself and others.
•How to find your life’s purpose.
•How to achieve a state of balance in your life.

The book also contains a number of quotations from the great philosophers and teachers of the ages, including Plato, Buddha, Aristotle, Cicero, Francis Bacon, Marcus Aurelius, Confucius, Laozi and others. These have been carefully selected to help the reader focus on the core principles which are being taught. They can also be used as ‘meditations’ which the reader can draw on for inspiration, contemplation and personal development. At the end of the book, there is also a link to Equanimity Blog, where you can find related, free posts which expand on the topics and principles of the book. There is also a link to a bonus chapter with more inspirational quotations which can be downloaded and read for further inspiration.

I hope that this book provides value to your life and helps you to achieve true happiness and inner peace.
You can download it here: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Achieve-Happiness-Knowledge-Inner-ebook/dp/B06WWQ3P4M/

BTW, if you still haven't downloaded Green Monk of Tremn, I'd highly encourage it. It's also the first book in a series and is currently available for $2.99 on Amazon Kindle ($9.99 in paperback). The link for that book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Monk-Tremn-Part-Adventure-ebook/dp/B01NAYSPA8/

:)
Nicholas J. Bridgewater

"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."
- Baha'u'llah
See: http://bahai.org/

Some Answered Questions.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Vol. I.
An Elementary Greek Grammar.
Lizzyerd85
Posts: 27
Joined: January 7th, 2017, 9:30 am

Post by Lizzyerd85 »

Writer and dreamer :9: lol

I've written all my life since I knew how to.

I have a terrible habit of starting too many projects at once but now I'm working ( for me, rather diligently ) on one I've had since the 8th grade. I really want that one to do well and have a friend rereading and editing it.
But other than that one I have at least four other novels rattling around in my brain. One I really miss that I completely loss when my old laptop died..

I have recently written two short stories and submitted one to an e magazine but alas was rejected :( But that's, of course, par for the course.

And I have been writing poems for ages. Only thing I've ever been published in was our school little 'magazine'... funny thing was I submitted two funny poems : Weird Things to Eat and The Math Test .... interestingly they didn't publish the math test one..... :hmm:

:D
CliveCatterall
Posts: 442
Joined: December 9th, 2007, 3:02 pm
Location: Hereford, UK
Contact:

Post by CliveCatterall »

Yes. I wrote a book imaginatively titled "The Hot Air Balloon Book" (I wanted to call it "Make Your Own Working UFO" but the publisher thought that might be a bit too obscure).

It is a book all about making working paper and plastic hot-air balloons including solar-powered ones. It is billed as a hands-on science book, but for me it was all about getting people making things with their hands.

It took about six months full time work to write and do all of the illustrations (after about three years of research in my spare time). I worked out that if you divide the money I got from the publishers advance by the number of hours it took me just to write and illustrate I earned less than half the national minimum wage. Unsurprisingly (as my children tell me they enjoy eating and living in a house) I am now back working as a scientist for a big company that makes scientific instruments.

That said, writing the book was the absolutely and completely the best job I have ever had. Period. And I have done some bizarre and fun jobs in science, engineering, product design, and high school teaching.

I have been researching a follow-up book on make-your-own cameras and other optical projects. Not because I want to make money or anything. It's just that I'm afflicted with an inability not to carry on writing. Once I have some cool research that I think people will be interested in I find it very hard to put it down.

(you can follow the link in my signature to find out about my book)

Clive
Peter Why
Posts: 5814
Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

Clive, looking at your web page about the balloon book: I'd not thought about it before, but would a balloon made from black paper be self-sustaining in sunny weather?

You've got some royalties coming.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
CliveCatterall
Posts: 442
Joined: December 9th, 2007, 3:02 pm
Location: Hereford, UK
Contact:

Post by CliveCatterall »

Peter Why wrote:Clive, looking at your web page about the balloon book: I'd not thought about it before, but would a balloon made from black paper be self-sustaining in sunny weather?
Spot-on Peter. You've just invented the solar hot air balloon - that's all there is to it! In fact the model solar balloons tend to be made out of cheapo black trash bags, as they are lighter than paper and let less air through (tissue paper can be quite porous - try holding some up to a strong light). But you've got the principle right.

Here is a picture of my son launching a solar tetroon a few years ago [photo used in the book].
Image

You've got some royalties coming.

Peter
Nice. Hope you enjoy the projects.

Clive
Ealswythe
Posts: 833
Joined: June 19th, 2017, 4:35 pm
Location: Los Angeles, by way of New York City

Post by Ealswythe »

I've written some books that are on Amazon.

The Mandela Effect: Confabukation or Fact? (Spanish version too)
The Summoning Part One
The Summoning Part Two
Le silence va plus vite à reculons.

https://librivox.org/reader/11772
pjcsaville
Posts: 392
Joined: April 6th, 2017, 11:37 am
Location: USA

Post by pjcsaville »

I'm published but just short stuff.

I published a short story when I was in 6th grade, three poems in my college art magazine, and I self published and illustrated all the short stories I've ever written (K-12th Grade) on Blurb. I'm currently writing a book of fairytales for my daughter.

I'm looking for a publisher for a child's book I wrote on Storybird (which had a great following) but it looks like every publishing company requires an agent which makes it harder.
jasonb
Posts: 725
Joined: July 25th, 2006, 4:31 pm

Post by jasonb »

I used to write song parodies in high school. When I was a junior I wrote a song called The Meat Song which was a parody of Green Day's Longview. I performed it for my vocal choral class but the teacher didn't appreciate my rock star antics on stage, nor the fact that I hadn't written any sheet music for it or something. I got a B+. I still try to remember the whole thing sometimes, and one of these days I will remember it all and maybe record it (just to get it down). I was vegetarian at the time I wrote it. A musician friend and I at the same time parodied a song from this girl band at school that had voices that were so soft you could hardly ever hear them over their guitars. We wrote The Fart Song over their melody of some song about lost love or whatever teenage girls sing about.

I started a story compilation about my exploited as a single guy after a long term separation from my wife - but it always worked better when I was just telling the stories to the guys on nights when we were just hanging out. Probably would have been better to record them and transcribe than to try to write.

I have a problem with getting things out of my head and onto paper, while usually I can talk about them at great lengths and in great detail. I think maybe I should just record everything I say all day every day.

My grandfather wrote a weekly column for a local newspaper from my hometown for over 30 years. He had little success self-publishing some compilations, but I think that I could compile them and write some introductions and interludes with his work, publish them and possibly make some $$ to assist in paying for his long-term care. He is in his late 80s now and can no longer walk. He also has stopped writing and never touches his computer anymore I am told. I saw twice after I left Canada in 1998. Once for my wedding in January 2000 in Panama, and once again just after New Year 2016 when I visited Canada.

Got off topic there a bit. I would also like to write some stories with my daughter a la Dork Diaries or something like that.
Regards,
Jason (back) in Canada

20 Years in Canada, 20 years in Panama, now returned to Canada for the next stage of my life
VfkaBT
Posts: 1305
Joined: November 28th, 2015, 7:47 am
Location: Florida

Post by VfkaBT »

https://archive.org/details/RECENTWRITINGS_2017
I published this last week. Short stories, two one-act plays, and four poems. Mystery, sci-fi, satire, and drama.
My previous LV work: Bellona Times
ZamesCurran
Posts: 474
Joined: March 2nd, 2015, 9:08 am
Location: Bloomfield, NJ
Contact:

Post by ZamesCurran »

My short (8 min) play "The Literary Merit of People's Exhibit One" was produced three times last year, and has been published by Lazy Bee Scripts.
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/Scripts/Results.aspx?iSc=2782 (the whole script is online there)
Truth,
James
---------------------
Johndec
Posts: 15
Joined: August 22nd, 2017, 7:22 am

Post by Johndec »

Hello fellow authors!

Have any of you lot self-published your work on a blog site before? What platforms do you all use for this?

I have a modest little personal blog project with short stories and general chit chat... I use wordpress at the moment (probably the most technical thing I'm capable of!) :help:

PS- This interesting content article helped me with the contextualisation of my work within the writer-sharing blog framework.
VfkaBT
Posts: 1305
Joined: November 28th, 2015, 7:47 am
Location: Florida

Post by VfkaBT »

It's easy to self-pub on Internet Archive. Become a member of the site, first. Save your work as a PDF and upload it. IA will convert the file for you into EPub, Txt, and other formats.
My previous LV work: Bellona Times
Eye4words
Posts: 11
Joined: September 30th, 2017, 11:17 pm
Location: Los Angleles
Contact:

Post by Eye4words »

I published a book of dark poetry - 'SHE OF THORN' - which surprised me by hitting #17 on Amazon's '100 Best Sellers: Love poems' a week later :shock: (and I'm not sure they can be called "love" poems :hmm: !). I have a second volume sitting in the wings, but I kinda lost my steam in getting it ready for publishing.
Nicholas19
Posts: 2251
Joined: June 27th, 2007, 7:04 am
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Contact:

Post by Nicholas19 »

My two latest books:

151 Amazing Money Secrets

Bitcoin: 10 Ways to Make Money Using Bitcoin

The first of these is currently free to download as a PDF. Click on the link for more details. I'm planning to release more short books soon.

Best regards,
Nicholas J. Bridgewater

"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."
- Baha'u'llah
See: http://bahai.org/

Some Answered Questions.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Vol. I.
An Elementary Greek Grammar.
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