I’ve Moved!

I’ve moved!

If you follow this blog, please remember it is closed for updates. The “follow me” will be removed to prevent new sign ups.

Please join me at Sherry Rentschler. Sign up for the newsletter when you visit. Unfortunately there will no longer be blog notices when new info is posted/updated. But the newsletter will let you know about new things before others, read new things that will not appear on the website and hear about signings and giveaways before the public.

C’mon over! I look forward to seeing you.

New Web Site!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Writers and Readers, Authors and Bloggers,

I’m proud and delighted to announce the last of my new surprises.

My new domain/website Sherry Rentschler is now LIVE!

As a result of the new site, I also have a new blog — or rather Between the Lines has a new home.  And new things planned for your pleasure.

This blog here will be going inactive in a couple weeks. I encourage you to join me at the ****new**** site and sign up for the new newsletter. 

————FOLLOWING BY EMAIL WILL NO LONGER WORK and will soon be deleted here.————

I’m very excited about the direction I’m going and I hope you’ll go along with me.

Many thanks to Dawn at Austin DesignWorks for my new website!!!

C’mon, let’s go to my new home!

I remain Yours Between the Lines!
Sherry

Hm, what’s new?

Are you following the End the Silence campaign? Jenna posted new items by Kate Givens and me.  Although I noted that people are visiting the campaign website (and wow, we all really do thank you for that), we sure would love to hear from you. So, please feel free to leave comments, ask questions, begin discussions, offer suggestions — anything at all. Just go to the page of the person you wish you comment on, and to the right of that person’s offering(s) you will see a ( ) comments. Click to add yours! It’s that easy. And I thank you in advance.

I received a very nice comment from a young person who asked about self publishing. I’m writing something up on this for next week’s Monday blog, so stay tuned. Basically I was asked, “how come self-publishing books get a bad rap?” And Sylvia, an honest answer is coming!

And I’m sure there are other new things. 🙂 BIG new thing coming next week. Make it a good weekend.

Until next week, I remain, yours between the lines!

Time for something new

I confess.  I’m one of these people who once the furniture is set in the living room is content to leave it untouched until I die. For the most part. I may add or remove a bookcase, change out a chair when replaced by new or add a different lamp. Change curtains, surely. But the big stuff? Nah.

And then you move. That gives you a chance to change everything. People who come to visit you, those who’ve known you a while, exclaim “oh look what you’ve done!” Mostly shock speaking, of course, given that they’ve never seen your things in any other pattern than the previous one. Stop laughing!

Okay, I don’t know if this makes me a careful planner, set in my ways, rigid and anal, or simply less worried about change than other folks — but I do feel now is a time to think about change and change the furniture.

I dislike Summer. No. That’s a lie. I truly despise Summer. I loved it when I was a kid, naturally. Bikes and roller skates and pogo sticks! Long, lazy days in the grass guessing cloud shapes, waiting for the ice cream truck. Ah, summer. Well thank you global warming. Now it is let-me-get-my-errands-done-before-10am-0r-melt days. I’ve never fared well in the heat. I burn so fast you can literally see it happen. I’m allergic to grass seed. The point is that during this time of the grass cutting heat wave called Summer, I am concentrating on writing and I’m feeling like it is time to rearrange the furniture.

The web furniture, that is.

So fair warning travelers and friends!  This place is going to be changing. Not sure into what because I’m only now playing with the furniture. I need new curtains, a new nook and a reading corner. Feels weird to think of change, but I’m excited now. Expect the unexpected. Soon. This current place might even go offline while I change it. I’ll let you know when.

What else would a dark fantasy writer/poet tell you? Oh, I know!

Don’t look behind you!

And?

Leave the lights on.

Why?

Something is coming between the lines….

Something….wicked?

Worse! (here is where you shiver a little with me)

What’s worse than something wicked? (Oh don’t sound so incredulous!)

Something…..new.

Happy New Year!

Hello and welcome 2014!

I contemplated doing a long, reflective post with apologies and promises but I decided that what I owe you is so much more.

So here is what is coming in 2014:

I’ll give you some info on the publication of my book, Paper Bones, tell you how I’m doing and share tidbits I’ve learned along the way. Hopefully, some of this will inspire or help you on your publication journey.

This year I’ll share more pictures, more book and movie reviews as I read/see them. We can have great discussions on the merits of our reading material. Also, we’ll look at life and how we can use it to enhance our writing. I want to discuss so many topics on writing this year, sharing some of my work, getting your feedback and thoughts too.

I’ve joined Facebook and is part of why I’ve been missing. Learning to work my “other” social media outlets and find balance is a good topic for an upcoming post. We’ll discuss it. Meanwhile I can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn and Klout for starters.

Life is a true adventure! We’re going on it now, together. I’m changing the blog (going to need some help but I know a few folks who can assist me), and we’re getting down to business.

So, I hope you’ll come back every day as we look at our lives, between the lines!

Happy New Year, friends and readers. Thank you for being there! See you tomorrow.
~Sherry

Book Publishing and Publicity News

Good morning all! Lots of bits and pieces to share, so let’s get started.

Hopefully, you’ve seen that my poetry book is published and now available for purchase at Authorhouse (tho web site has technical problems), Amazon and other place. Part of the publication process included receipt of an “author’s copy” of each style of book. That means I get an AC of my hardback and softback. Those have not come just yet. However!  My husband ordered a book from Amazon the moment we were told the book was live. It came Thursday and I’ve looked at it. Big smiles. Took a picture of him reading his copy. And he’s gotten very possessive of it too. (picture was posted to Twitter)

He’s reading MY book!

I still can’t get over the lovely cover (by Sean Foley and his model was wife Jill).  The cover is very polished and totally original. I plan to enter the cover and book into several awards.

But it was fun to write my publisher and tell them I saw my book before I even have my copy. Too funny.  Looks good too, so you can purchase yours with confidence.

Not so with the ebook. First, nothing was said to me about “special” ebook formatting or anything I needed to know that made ebooks “different.”  Needless to say, I purchased an ebook so I could see how it looked. Am not happy with the result. The ebook has some formatting issues making some poems, tho in the book, not appear in the Table of Contents. Some photographs are not with their captions. Footnote numbers are attached to titles instead of being beside the titles. Just formatting errors that need fixing. I’ve already spoken to the designers who have contacted the ebook division, so I am working that issue. If you purchased an ebook (or were planning to), hang on. I will see to it that these items are resolved.  Onward to other areas:

Items I ordered – like launch invitations and raffle gifts for the party – arrived.  I sent out some announcements cards to folks who do not “see” or “read” me online.  Working on my list of places to leave business cards, too.

Another suggestion for new authors — I was told that it helps to leave a copy of your book in reception areas (with permission of the owners), like doctors’ and dentists’ waiting areas. Also, need to connect with the local library, even the chamber of commerce, town hall, and other offices with receptions (like insurance offices, beauty parlours, etc). Never know where you might get a sale from! 

The behind-the-scenes-work is never ending. Waiting on my offiicial press release so I can connect with the local papers. Need a book in hand to go to the library. Finalizing arrangements for some local appearances.  Speaking of actual engagements, authors should try for local ladies groups (garden clubs, reading clubs, foodie meetings) as well as a meet-and-speak at your local libraries. That’s where I’m at for now.

Still working the book trailer. Decided to do a short UTube video of the first book to tide me over. Will show it here when I get that done.

Fun author notes:

I completed my Goodread’s Author page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7174564.Sherry_Rentschler

I also completed my Amazon Author page:
http://www.amazon.com/Sherry-Rentschler/e/B00DZPNMAC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1374248562&sr=8-1

ON THE DESK:  Still reading book #3 of Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Very good.  When I get some quiet time, reading will continue. 

INKWELL:  Opened my WIP (the mystery novel) and the vampire WIP. Planning on doing the vampire story (stories?) for November’s NaNoWriMo. I can also work on my other stuff too. When the weather changes, I am much more prolific.

Guest Blogger:  Apologies to all for the late delivery of the blogger. I promise to have all posted by Monday.  Between the book coming early, hubby being on vacation this week, getting a patio built this week (and workers running around my yard all day),  I’ve been a wee bit distracted. But I’ll have new stuff for you next week.

Its Saturday. Time to do some laundry, post the #DailyTwitamin on Twitter (hope you are following), clean the bathrooms (oh how I love toity duty), dust and vacuum. Thank goodness I can put on some Justice League for my Saturday morning cartoons (some youthful traditions die hard!) while I polish off the furniture.

BAZING!  In case no one noticed, I changed the BAZING link.  My bff has taken down her last blog and so I decided to highlight blogs I follow which impress me. For now, I hope everyone will take note of The Mess that Is Me. Robbie Cox, a past Guest Blogger here is a delightfully insightful writer. You’ll enjoy him.

FINALLY:  I still don’t understand Facebook. But here’s the link to my Author “page.”  (Is that right?)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherry-Rentschler/185809561579364?ref=hl

And this is the link to my “regular” Facebook place, the more private me.

https://www.facebook.com/sherry.rentschler

Challenge 9 &10: Villians & July

Day 9: Create a villain and describe them in 500 words or less

 First, you feel it in your soul, a deep unbalance that you can’t explain. Awareness follows, telling you that something is there, something you can’t see, something you sense more than feel. It chills you with a coldness falling from the sky, not of the earth. You look up, searching for answers, trying to reason out why you feel this terrible foreboding. Finally, you smell a strange sweetness, as if wildflowers just bloomed in the early spring. You think this may be good but your sixth sense warns you, “danger!” Suddenly, there, lingering just out of range of your vision is a shimmering, a glimmer of a being. You squint, attempting to focus but it remains oddly vague and confusing. Still, you know there is wrongness in the air, and before you can process any further, a shape materializes before you. Beautiful, delicate, beyond ethereal. This is a sylph. However, not just any sylph, this woman, daughter of Gaia, was poisoned by smog, ozone, carbon emissions, and nuclear waste. There is a gray cast to the shimmering, a hint of oily sheen visible only in the direct sun.  

This sylph is Gaia’s hitman. She seeks vengeance on all humans. Indiscriminate, her vacant soulless eyes offer no mercy, no empathy. If you are caught, her chill is paralyzing, her justice immediate and unmerciful.  

Aesta wasn’t always like this. Once, long ago, she was a wood nymph. She fell in love with a young undine. Together they romped as young lovers do, splashing about in pure clear streams. He fed the roots of her home; his love nourished her heart. She kept him clear and strong. One day a human came. He cut down her beloved tree and Aesta fell into the clear stream. Her lover kept her safe, cradled in his arms and salvaging a large branch from her tree. But she couldn’t stay in the water and he had to place her on the land. Without her nourishing home, she dried up and her dust went into the air. Gaia took pity on her and made her a sylph.  

Her sorrow was just beginning. While she transitioned to a sylph, the human built his factory, spilled foulness into the clear water and her lover choked to death on toxins. When Aesta returned to the water by her felled tree, she found but a hint of her lover in the cracks of the shore. He was gone forever. Gaia wept new tears but Aesta consumed the gray storms and they became her furious heart.  

Her lust for death to all humans is a terror. She is sought by the other elementals but she means to destroy the humans from her beloved Mother Earth before she is captured. (456 words)

******

Day 10: List 5 things you like about July and 5 things you dislike 

Like:

1.  At month’s end, 3 and 1/2 months til I decorate for Christmas
2.  Staying inside gives me lots of time for reading & movies
3.  Don’t have to diet because I ate a lot of salads and sandwiches and no heavy stuff
4.  Always look forward to homemade ice cream during the 4th (see 5)
5.  Fireworks for America’s birthday (and sparklers!)

 Dislike:

1. HOT
2. Kids out of school crowd malls/amusements
3. Wasps/Bees/Ants
4. Days are too long/nights too short
5. The heat makes me very uninspired