Selkies' Skins

Selkies' Skins
Current book in series Temple and Skinquest. Enjoy Castle and Well from Amazon, B&N and Smashwords while waiting for that and the prequel's audiobook "Pearls of Sea and Stone: Book of Seals".

Friday, June 28, 2019

Flash Fiction Fridays #15: Awake (and poetry)



I recorded this before my voice went out. Hopefully I will have the text story for Flash Fiction Fridays ready by the end of the day. I've been sick the past few days. I thought it was allergies... It was not allergies...



There's an interview still for me to record, and I need to send out some more questionairres for others on my list. I'm attempting to get back into the swing of things after we had to put Mama Cat down.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Review of "Grief," a graphic anthology by Frank Gogol

GriefGrief by Frank Gogol
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I bought this book for my son and I to share when we found the Source Point table at the local comic convention in 2019. I was hugely excited to get to have it signed as well. That is a rare treat for my son and I.

I finally got the chance to sit down and have a proper read through of the book instead of here and there as I could. I found it to be a very healing experience. My son has not gotten to take the time to read through yet, but I expect that he will enjoy it as much as I have and find things that he will identify with as well. We deal with grief over loved ones both human and furry that were taken from us too soon. Two of the deaths were natural causes (at least one cancer, the other we aren't sure of), one a horrible accident mere feet from our home, and one from poisoning. The past few years have been rough one could say. There have been other things to mourn such as lost friendship and the fact that my son has not had a "normal" childhood.

The last story, "Embrace," which apparently was the first written, hit particularly hard for me as I myself am a parent of an autistic young man that has had to overcome much. We have had to find our own way around obstacles. He's disclosed to me at times that he has felt like a monster, so I expect to have many discussions with him about "Monsters." Each of these tales contained a piece of things I needed reminding of. It has made me feel better and less alone to read it. I have another tool that will help my son as we navigate our most recent losses.

Thank you. I can't praise this highly enough.

View all my reviews

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Interesting Folklore Blog I'd like to share

Green Shinto on Facebook shared a good blogpost that they had found about the octopus kami. The entire blog looks pretty interesting for those looking for writing prompts or folklore tidbits.
https://arjungwriter.com/

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Short Hiatus From Podcast and Youtube

I would rather not retype the whole thing. I will take a short hiatus from the Youtube and Podcast to mourn and recuperate. I will continue working on other projects. I just need to turn inward some for a bit.
~Teresa

Other projects will not have a hiatus.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Interviewing Debi Stanton Author and Publisher with Pen It Publications


Here is my interview with author and president of Pen It Publications, Debi Stanton. As with all the interviews I am working my way through doing I hope to cast more light on the individuals that make the publishing world work. By illuminating these areas perhaps it will overall be a less mysterious place for those thinking about joining it.

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Pre Interview Questions:
a) Is Debi Stanton your legal name or a pen name/DBA name? If so, would you mind telling us why you chose one over using your legal name. It is my legal name.

b) Are you an author, poet, illustrator, editor, game writer, game creator, publisher, or multiple? If you have multiple roles in the publishing community then which ones are they? If you have multiple roles feel free to answer each question with sections for each role. I own Pen It! Publications, LLC with my husband, Ray. I am also an author of 17 books and I always have more in the works!

c) What books, games, or other publishing related projects have you been involved in the production of? There are way too many to list. We have published over 500 books in the past 4 years and have more coming in every day. We are excited to be a part of each and every author’s story.
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1. What got you interested in (writing/illustrating/editing, etc.)? I have been writing since I was a child. I was a voracious reader and writing was a natural transition. I minored in Art, but don’t illustrate, it is much too hard! And editing…that is probably my least favorite thing about writing, so we pay others to do it 😊

2. What company or companies are you doing work for/with? (In case you have more than one job and want to give them a shout out or it impacts your publishing at all.) We own Pen It! Publications, LLC which is a traditional publisher.

3. You are the President of Pen It Publications. Can you tell us the story behind the company and what caused you to get involved with it? My husband and I got married in 2014 and he had just written his first book. I had published a few. He was shopping his book around to publishers and was just not happy with what they offered. Most were vanity presses who wanted to charge him thousands of dollars. I was already publishing Pen It! Magazine, a magazine for authors and I had been traditionally published, but always felt like I was just a number. So, I mentioned that I always wanted to start my own publishing company. I knew a lot about publishing, but didn’t know much about the business side of it. Ray had owned his own business for over 30 years and said, “well, I do.” So within two weeks, we were up and running. We hired 1 illustrator and 1 editor, and we were in business. Now we employ around 50 people and have hundreds of authors. I truly love what I do. Our motto is: Everyone has a story…What’s yours?

4. What projects are you currently working on?
I am working on a series of books called: People Watching…. The first one is People Watching…In the Airport. They are going to be funny looks at people watching.

5. Do you have any future projects in mind to take on? I have a novel that I need to finish that I started a few years ago. I have 16 chapters done but just haven’t had the motivation to finish it. I won’t share that title right now.

6. What is your favorite project you have done? Wow, each project we work on for our authors is wonderful…so I’ll talk about one I have written myself. My favorite book is The Fellowship Flock. It hasn’t been much of a seller, but we are going to do a new cover for it and republish soon. It is set in Fairhope Alabama and surrounds a little church and all of the comedy and drama that ensues.

7. Is this career something that you always wanted to do? Yes, I started writing, transitioned into running writing groups, then to publishing Pen It! Magazine and then into Pen It! Publications.

8. Do you find it difficult, or find some aspects more difficult than others? I truly hate editing. I tend to get sucked into the story and skip over errors, so we pay others to do that job.

9. Have you observed any way that an author or poet makes it harder for themselves to find a publisher? Have a good query letter. I get submissions all the time that are just attached to an email with no query letter, no information about the story, etc. Also, make sure that you have edited it to the best of your ability. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but do the best you can.

10. I have noticed and heard many younger people trying to figure out how to become an illustrator. Do you have any specific advice or suggestions for those budding artists? We do hire young talent. The best tip I can give is to be diligent. If an author or publisher gives you a book to illustrate, be timely, keep in touch and be responsible to meet your deadlines. It’s very important to us and to our authors that we publish in a timely manner.

11. What is a normal day like for you? Is this your side job or main job? Gosh, I work from about the time I get up until I go to bed some days. I am always answering email, helping format books, corresponding with staff. It is a crazy life, but I love it.

12. How do you manage balancing this with family and any other work you may have? It is important to do, but sometimes I find I neglect things other than work. Ray and I take a vacation at least once a year. Last year we went to Hawaii and Israel. I just have to say, “I’m not working” and let the authors and staff know that I am going to be away. They are very respectful of my time and know I will be in touch as soon as I can.

13. What hobbies do you have? Besides writing? I would say travel. My husband and I love to travel.

14. If you could be anything in the world besides this, what would it be? Besides this huh? Well, probably a teacher at a college…teaching writing of course. Or, I would lead conferences and seminars. I love being in front of people and teaching them.

15. Do you feel that school helped set you up toward following this path in the publishing industry? Yes, definitely. I majored in English and took multiple electives. I had one teacher, Mrs. Lloyd who really inspired me. She was a creative and inspirational lady and I admired her greatly. I have five degrees, so I guess I was an education junkie. I have an Associates in Business, a Bachelor’s in Business, a Bachelor’s in Computer Software Technology, a Master’s in Business and a Master’s in Health Care Administration…and lots of Student Loans! LOL

16. If you could go back to school is there anything you wish you had paid more attention to? History. I love reading non-fiction and I wish I had been more into history.

17. What advice do you have for the next generation? Don’t doubt yourself. You can do it!

18. What advice do you have for your age peers that may also want to take part in the publishing industry and specifically with your area within it? Publishing is time-consuming. It can take over your life, but the rewards are so worth it. Be kind to people and they will love working with you.

19. Is there anything else that you’d like to add that we didn’t discuss?

I would just like to say thank you to all of our authors and staff. You have made us what we are today. I am so very blessed to have all of you in my life. I can’t thank you enough.


Debi Stanton



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