Thanks to Tor Books I won a copy of the novel FlashForward through a contest on Twitter. I’ve also been watching the series on TV (actually on the ABC site as Thursday nights have way too much on at the same time! I’m a week be
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Added by Gloria Oliver on November 1, 2009 at 9:25am —
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When my gaze came across the man-sized raven I thought my heart would stop. It walked through the death shrouded streets as if the Grim Reaper could not touch it. A wide brimmed black hat adorned its head, the ensemble filled out with black cloak, black leggings, a touch of white at the cuffs and a ruffle around his neck. Its glassy, oversized eyes stared at everything around it, its long beak as dark as night. There were no wings that I could see. But it didn’t need them. It walked the streets…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on October 2, 2009 at 6:22am —
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Audio Books are becoming all the rage of late. But there’s one thing about them I do not understand. The pricing!
My husband started looking into them because he has a long commute to work plus he doesn’t have a lot of free time to read. He picked some up from Half Price Books to check them out to see if they were something he might like. And he did. Then I started looking at what he was paying for the things even devalued and almost had a heart attack.
The pricing on these things is insane! A…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on August 9, 2009 at 9:19am —
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WOW! Women on Writing Sponsored E-Course: New Class Starts September 7, 2009.
PUBLISH THAT BOOK: How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Sells
Nowadays, big publishers simply don't read unsolicited material. They depend on agents to muck through the "slush pile" in search of the gems. If you want to get a book published, knowing and using the correct format for a book proposal is paramount.
Nonfiction books -- a market easier to break into than fiction -- are the backbone of publis…
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Added by Andrea Campbell on June 18, 2009 at 11:24pm —
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The deadline to take John Foxjohn’s class, 8 Steps to Murdering a Manuscript is May 27, 2009.
KOD, an online chapter of RWA, offers the class and more information or sign up is at this link:
http://www.rwamysterysuspense. org/coffin. html
The class begins June 1 and lasts until June 30.
John has taught this class many times in person and online, but for one day or a week—this will be the most comprehensive writing class he has taught online.
The class will include opening hooks, pace and fl…
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Added by John Foxjohn on May 24, 2009 at 3:08pm —
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One of my publishers - Zumaya Publications - has now become a part of the Espresso Book Machine Pilot program! (Which means my books are too!) Here's some info on the project sent for us to spread around. Sounds cool!
Late in April, Zumaya Publications completed the paperwork that places all our titles currently being printed at Lightning Source into their pilot program with On-Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine. Other participating publishers are John Wiley & Sons, Hachette…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on May 24, 2009 at 10:12am —
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Dragonball: Evolution
Staring - Justin Chatwin, Yun Chow Fat, James Masters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung and more...
Premise: Based on the famous Japanese manga and anime series by Akira Toriyama, this live action rendition centers around Goku, a young martial artist, an ancient legend about an evil destructive alien named Piccolo, and seven Dragonballs that if gathered together would summon the dragon Shanglong (sp?) and grant the summoner one wish.
Review: I've followed Akira Toriyama's…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on April 19, 2009 at 10:15am —
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My online class, Eight Steps to Murdering a Manuscript without a Conviction, begins Monday, April 20. The class will end on Monday, April 27.
The class covers eight major areas that can keep a writer from publishing a manuscript, or from increasing their knowledge and talent as a writer.
Elements of Romance host the class and you can find it to register at:
http://www.elementsofrwa.com
When the web site comes up, click on workshops on the left, and then scroll down to the class and register.…
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Added by John Foxjohn on April 17, 2009 at 11:05am —
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My Name Is Bruce
Staring Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, Ted Raimi and more!
Premise: A Chinese god, Guan-Di, has been released in the small town of Goldlick, and it is set on revenge for the death of some Chinese miners back in the 1800's. Not knowing what to do, the town kidnaps the down on his luck actor Bruce Campbell, hoping he will come and save the day. Except Bruce believes this is just a set up by his age…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on April 12, 2009 at 10:49am —
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March is Small Press Month!
Being as all my books and most of the anthologies I have been lucky enough to be in are from Independent and Small Presses I figured I would do my bit to push for a little awareness!
SmallPress.org has a site full of events happening all across the country to promote small press and small press authors.
With so much of the content coming from the big publisher becoming so cookie cutter, small pre…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on March 16, 2009 at 6:53am —
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You still have time to sign up for John Foxjohn’s online class, the 5 P's of Self-Promotions: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
http://www.elementsofrwa.com
This link will take you to the web site to sign up. When you get there, click on workshops, and scroll down to April. It is easy to do.
The class is from April 1-7.
Description: This workshop encompasses easy and inexpensive ways to market the author and book, how to make media guides and press releases, and how to set up TV a…
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Added by John Foxjohn on March 13, 2009 at 9:37am —
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Started work on this in January and am only now getting this post done. 2009 seems to be keeping me busy! Dang!
Anyway, I had an idea back early in the year for a neat webpage I could add to my main site. You see, for the longest time ever, I've always had runs of weird coincidences. Nothing meaningful or life changing, but just enough of something to make themselves noticed. I've had no many in fact that my husband doesn't even bat an eye at them anymore and if anything seems to look forward t…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on February 22, 2009 at 9:24am —
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On Feb. 13th I will speak and sign my novels at the the East Texas Writers Association. My topic is, “Everything you wanted to know about homicide investigations and forensics but were afraid to ask.
The ETWA holds their meetings at Casa Ole, 210 N. Spur 63 in Longview, Texas. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
If you are in the area I hope you can drop by.
On February 22, I will speak and sign my novels for the Keller/Southlake/Ft.Worth/writers meetup group…
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Added by John Foxjohn on February 4, 2009 at 1:06pm —
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Blogging is creating content that one feels is of interest to the reading public. Those of you who blog know how difficult that can be. Similar questions arise: What in my life would interest you?
There's no easy answer to that. But witnessing the inauguration last month brings to mind that what draws us together is our humanity. It's the one thing that binds all nations under God. And therefore seems like a good subject for blogging.
As a Canadian, I was moved by the inauguration. While liste…
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Added by joylene butler on February 2, 2009 at 12:10pm —
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At least I hope and plan to. Most of my friends in the writing world haven’t heard from me in a long time. It has been a year since I have really been on this site.
A little over a year ago, in perfect health, I went to the doctor for a routine checkup. They ran the normal blood tests and things like that and I went home. A week later, I get a call from the doctor’s office about my test results.
This is a normal occurrence, but what wasn’t—they wouldn’t tell me the results on the phone. T…
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Added by John Foxjohn on January 27, 2009 at 1:39pm —
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A few weeks ago I went to one of our favorite family owned restaurants. After we’d ordered and got our food, I noticed that unlike the norm, this time they’d not added the colorful bit of garnish they usually placed on the dishes they served. While the food was as good as ever, the missing bit still, weirdly enough, detracted from our dining experience. Now that the garnish was missing, I understood how much such a simple thing had actually added to the enjoyment of the meal. So while something…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on January 18, 2009 at 3:59pm —
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Well, after way too many months of avoidance and procrastination, I was finally able to carve out a chunk of time to get all the pieces together and finish the first of my much needed four book videos!
Woot!!!! The Book Video for
In the Service of Samurai is COMPLETE!
If you care to take a peek, you can find the bugger
here.
It's not going to win any Academy Awards, but hopefully it will get the point across. Heh heh.
N…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 21, 2008 at 9:37am —
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Going on a major splurge of absorbing 10 years worth of SG-1 in about 1.5 years makes a few things stand out in the watching. One of the items that kept popping up over and over is a big no-no in writing, so I was quite saddened to see poor Captain/Colonel Carter stuck with it over and over and over again - the old dreaded "As you know, Bob..."
Handling of information already known to the characters but which the reader might not know and needs to be told is a tricky item to handle in writing.…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 14, 2008 at 10:39am —
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My YA book, Willing Sacrifice seems to be on a roll!

It finaled earlier this year for the Dream Realm Awards (didn't win though - I suffer from one of those "always a br
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 6, 2008 at 4:53pm —
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Yesterday morning I read chapter one of
Dead Witness at
CFIS 93.1 FM in Prince George, BC.
I didn't realize just how stressed I'd been. In fact, up to that point, I was pretty impressed with my calm attitude. Ben Meisner is a popular radio personality in BC, and I conversed with him as if he were my neighbour. Then I sat down with Reg Feyer and recorded my first chapter without a hiccup. It airs Monday night at 6…
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Added by joylene butler on November 28, 2008 at 1:53pm —
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