Linda Barnett-Johnson

    I'm Aline Soules, writer, singer, and librarian.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post, a I choose subjects that move me and I choose my genre according to my subject matter.  My latest chapbook, Evening Sun: A Widow's Journey , emerged from my many years of widowhood and I sought, through poetry, to honor my late husband and speak about the inner journey of widowhood.  I am also working on a novel and I write academic articles and reports as part of my work as a librarian.  Regardless of my writing genre, I benefit t he principles of poetry to improve my end result and you can, too.  In part 2 of this blog post, I offer further ideas to polish your work in the areas of sound, time, and submitting.  Use this link to read my earlier blog post on general ideas and grammar, usage, and word play. Sound ·          Listen to the sounds of your words and how those sounds fit toge...

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Product Placement and Why It May Be Right For Your Book By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning books The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor , both in their second editions About a year ago I was answering questions for an online interview to promote the Southern Utah Book Expo I would soon be presenting at. Because I am from Utah, my high school newspaper and yearbook became a topic of discussion and mentioned that getting sponsorship ads for those things was as vital to their being as the photos, writing, and layout of those parts of high school life we all value. Authors do the same kind thing with their Web sites. Carefully vetted ads can add value to their contents. I am a sometime actor and occasionally I notice how carefully a director places a picture on a wall or a can of Coke on the table in the shot he's taking. That's placement advertising and we—as consumers of both the Coke ...

  I'm Aline Soules, writer, singer, and librarian.  As a writer, I choose subjects that move me and I choose my genre according to my subject matter.  My latest chapbook, Evening Sun: A Widow's Journey , emerged from my many years of widowhood and I sought, through poetry, to honor my late husband and speak about the inner journey of widowhood.  Poetry is not my only genre, however.  Currently, I'm working on a novel and I also write academic articles and reports as part of my work as a librarian.  Regardless of my writing genre, I benefit t he principles of poetry to improve my end result and you can, too.  In part 1 of this blog post, I offer general ideas to polish your work and discuss grammar, usage, and word play.  Check back later for part 2. General Ideas ·          Show, don't tell.  Whenever you can explain your point through a concrete, specific example, the more...

To Pseudonym or Not to Pseudonym By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the newly released second edition  of The Frugal Editor ( http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor  in paperback Nora Roberts, the author of more than 150 romance novels, was asked why she writes romantic suspense novels under a pen name. Here is her answer: "It's marketing." She says that writing quickly makes it difficult for her publisher to publish all of her work with an appropriate amount of time between each of them. So she writes works which are "edgier" than her romance novels under the pseudonym J. D. Robb. She says. "Putting it under a pseudonym helps brand it for the reader." Children's writers often separate their real names or their "other" writing names from their children's work to keep work intended for children untainted. All these reasons are absolutely valid. And there are ...