FREE! Audiobook Giveaway

I have a lot of writer friends and as such, I KNOW they are all avid readers/listeners also. I also know how people are when something for FREE shows up, they stand up, run and grab themselves one if they can get at it quick enough.

Well as most of you know, my beau runs a successful audiobook review blog. He may not be loaded up in the follower department, but he knows his business. He was once blind, a determined man, that is when he began the site, but recently (October 10,2011) he had a cornea transplant which restored some of his vision and he turned a so so (bleh) blog, into a pretty awesome (YEAH!) blog.

He’s affiliated with MANY publishers who send out audiobooks for him to review and he has gotten quite an arsenal of good reads that he, even if he listens to three a day, cannot get through them all.

So he started his once a month audiobook giveaway, which is just what it says, a FREE audiobook giveaway. How he chooses which book goes up for grabs is beyond me, but as he goes into his fourth successful book giveaway, I deem it a success. Here’s how it works: you comment on his book giveaway, LEAVE AN EMAIL where to reach you, and that’s it. Wait for the end of the month, and one lucky commentator will walk away with the audiobook in hand, FREE of charge.

The deciding part. How does he choose one person? Well that is simple, he waves his magic wand, no no I’m kidding, he has within his bag of tricks many-sided die. Yup an eight sided dice? (Old Dungeons and Dragons game, don’t ask) lol He tells me how many people have responded CORRECTLY and *I* use the die and roll. Easy peasy, quick and easy!

I say responded correctly because many don’t leave an email address and Stormcrow has a way to go around spam bots like writing, audiobook-heaven at gmail dot com (your email address there) See? He can put it together and email the winner but he is no detective, where if you leave no email, he can’t hunt you down via the masses of people on the internet. So please, in the giveaway, PLEASE leave an email address or you become disqualified for the freebie.

And there’s more. Believe it or not, one of his publisher friends at Griffyn Ink is offering a FREE audio giveaway too. They approached him, asked if he would give away their book and as the good guy that he is, he obliged. Same rules apply! Leave a comment and an email address!

From Audiobook-heaven: “That’s right, we’re giving away one copy of each A J Scudiere audiobook listed. If you have a preference as to which one you’d like to win, please note that in your comment and we’ll do our best to oblige but there are no guarantees. The three audiobooks will be given away in MP3-USB flash drive form.”

So there you have it writing friends. Free! Free! Free! Now have at it, as my gift to YOU! :D

Poetry Corner ~ Dreamland ~

Psalm 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

***
Dreamland 

***
In the land where I choose to sleep
come to me and there we’ll meet.
Reach your hand out to mine
I’ll grab hold together we’ll climb

The mountainous terrain,
the windswept hills.
capture a moment of
dreamtime thrills.

Aloft we’ll fly through the stars
capture time knowing no scars.
We’ll hold the place; keep the time
dance in rhythm swing in rhyme.

We’ll waltz in the fields
with flowers in bloom
we’ll blow a wish
as the stars make room.

Trails of light kiss every step
softly we sway with sprightly pep.
The cord has bound into a knot
a moment’s peace we’ve not forgot.

Join me on this astral plane,
where you and I share one vein.
We’ll go on in wondrous bliss
remembering not the starlight kiss.

***

O:) for you O:)

Talk-o Tuesday

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce
***

Well it is official, my beaus blog audiobook-heaven has become popular enough to plagiarize. He found his reviews while surfing audio book blogs and lo and behold, there sat his reviews, under a trumped up name audio heaven. The blog thief, I will not justify with a name so you don’t click to see for yourself the insensitive treatment of what plagiarism looks like first hand or the atrocity of stolen work, or to give this guy hits!!!

The reviews are being RSS fed, to this persons blog, and this person is using many bloggers in the audio book industry’s work. He is changing a few words here and there to make it not show up on the scale of search engines but his mistake is that his blog on audiobooks, is one of few blogs that report on the audio book industry. It showed up on the search engine, as my beau’s search engine spot disappeared. Two of the same posts put one in front of the other apparently.

I’m not up on search engine placement, or stats and hits. I’m just here writing. If I get one visit a day, I’ve done my job in giving a message. But beau, being blind, has something to sink his teeth into while awaiting the cornea transplant that will give him his sight back. He has his two blogs that occupy his day and in some way fulfills the wait.

My beau works his tail off on writing the reviews. He is contacted by publishers to do reviews, he contacts publishers and asks if they’d like reviews, and all in all, his work is on a Sci- fi site and other audio book bloggers, BUT with his permission. They love his writing skills and his honesty in his reviews. Although he didn’t give one book a great review, and the publisher never sent him any more books to review. Which was fine by him, because that one book may have spoken volumes (pardon the pun) about what the other books were going to be like.

Two years ago he went blind. I told him to maybe try blogging as I knew he had good writing skills and I knew by getting things off his chest through ‘journaling’ might help ease the anxiety of his sight being taken away. That is when The Drums in the Deep was born. A blog about his journey and other stuff.

Then he had been listening to so many audio books, that he began writing reviews, then had the idea, an audio book review site. It filled his day(s)! He became a techno geek on the writing, placement, stats, followings of everything audio book related.

He also helps give audio book sites assistance in easier maneuverability with a screen reader. They ask, he offers. It’s a win win situation. But to see someone steal your work, that hits hard! I’ve created a monster in the blogging world with my beau, but it is a kind furry, loving monster, so don’t be afraid to CLICK his site and visit, audiobook-heaven. You won’t be disappointed and it will support him in all his efforts. :)

Sagacious Jowls

"You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country."
~ Robert Frost
***

I’m no grammar expert, I know my dictionary and am excellent in spelling. Sure I get a few words misspelled and I’m always kicking myself in the butt for that, but all in all I consider myself a person who spells correctly.

I also like difficult words but surely there is a place for them. When used incorrectly or in the wrong place, you can really throw your reader into a state of perplexity that he or she didn’t sign onto when they picked out your book to read.

I’m reading such a book now, fifty pages into the book and I still don’t know where it is going. The author throws words out that I can’t even repeat because while I have the intelligence to know what the words mean, it just didn’t fit in with the telling of the story. I won’t tell you the book, but I’ll tell you the author, Peter Straub.

This is a first time read of Mr. Straub, and while I ‘heard’ he was an okay writer, I didn’t hear that he was good at storytelling. You can be a good writer that throws a story together, has the conflicts in all the right places and time in the telling of a tale but this man is just not a show’er. What I’m saying is that he is telling the story. And as we’ve learned, if you read my blog, showing verses telling is a big difference.

But not only is he telling the story instead of showing, he’s using these words so out of context that it is tripping me up while I’m trying to read the story. Last night I tripped over ‘sagacious jowls’? I mean really, you can’t find another word? Why couldn’t he have used ‘sapient’ or perspicacious? (kidding) I just don’t know of any writing, unless maybe you’re of the descent of snobbery, where you would use that term sagacious.

There is a place and time for that language, like at a business meeting of lawyers and doctors where they are all sitting around with sagacious smiles, but jowls? I don’t know, that’s a tough one to call. I think writers want to reach readers, and not lose them. If the intellectual of society is sitting around reading Mr. Straubs book, then good for them, but to me, just an average reader, I do not, in no way shape or form, want to trip over words and stumble through very hard to read paragraphs.

Maybe by the end of the book, I’ll tell you what it was about. That’s if I get that far. By Saturday if I can’t figure out where this story is going or what it is about, it’s going back to the library! Then I will get the book Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson (click to read audiobook review) at which time I will not be disappointed because Mr. Matheson knows how to carry a story, research it and make the impossible seem possible.

Embrace the New Beginning

No one is able to enjoy such feast than the one who throws a party in his own mind. ~Selma Lagerlöf
***

What are you suppose to do, when something new smacks you in the face and life is sent into a spiral of change? Embrace it? Or move on to the next big upheaval?

While beau is having a high on audibook heaven,  receiving books to review from publishers, he’s found a few other ‘associates’ blogs to romp and comment on. Nothing like the meeting of the minds where books are concerned. He’s having a blast! Got himself a domain and all! Woohoo!

I’m on the other end. While I’m an avid reader, my fun is in writing and helping others learn the craft. Did I tell you that f2k Free Writing Course is starting on January 5. Last day to sign up is Jan. 3rd, so if you want to experience your love of writing, sign up and see if you have what it takes to be a writer. Sign up here: Writer’s Village University


From WVU:
Our next session of F2K (7-week creative writing course) begins January 5th, 2011.  It's easy to register, and it's free, thanks to volunteer Mentors from Writers' Village University.

First, make sure you're registered with the F2K Social Site. You will not be able to see registration links until this simple process is completed.

Click on "Login" then the "Register" link.

Enter your real name then your username and password choice. Only your username will be displayed to others. Your real name is used for your F2K Certificate upon course completion.

Important! You will receive an activation email with a link. Follow the link from your email (or copy and paste link into your browser). This will complete the F2K Social site registration.

Once you've completed activation, login to F2K Social, new links will appear in the navigation tabs.

***

There you have it! This will be the beginning of my new year, running around the halls with my friends, Benning, Gran, Silby, Leona and a few other mentors. New friendships will be made, the pursuit of happiness will be within our grasp, and all will be right with the world, hopefully continuing to spin on its axis. And audiobook heaven will soar into the cosmos and be everything beau dreams it to be.

This is going to be the year of change, not upheaval. Ride the wave and hope you land smoothly on the sand, and not drown in the undertow. Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Embrace the change!

Revamp Tuesday

Ecc. 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
***

Today I’m a busy gal. I’m revamping my tips for my class at f2k. F2K is a seven week, free writing course. Yes FREE! It starts tomorrow and I think there might still be time to sign up.

People have been knocking on the door for weeks. It’s almost funny to see the words “you will not be able to enter until July seventh,” then see so many people TRYING to enter before the seventh. I know they can read, they’re just eager and understandably so.

I’ve also got to go food shopping, go to the library, then come back here and hopefully work on my f2k lesson revamping again. I also want to mention AudioBookHeaven and the fine book reviews over there. This day in my blog history used to be Talk-o Tuesday and I would go on and on about audio books and anything that makes the blind world more easy and accessible. Audio books and Audio movies are essential.

Since I’m slowing up my writing, I had to give that one last push to Audio Book Heaven. Now let me get on with my busy day, and I’ll keep you posted on how the free f2k course is progressing.

I have a purpose. And each and every one of you do too, it’s just a matter of finding it within yourselves. 

Talk- o Tuesday

The Audio World...

I’m all audio-ed out. Okay that is not a word but you get my meaning. I’ve blogged about audio this and audio that, I’ve driven you across the country with a new way of reading books, I’ve given you links to help you find good reviews in Audio Book Heaven, I’ve guided you to to sites that will allow you to download movies that you can listen to, now I’m audio’ed out.

Is there anything else that I can add to the audio industry to make you understand how technological this stuff is? As I’ve said before, I’m no techie, so all this audio stuff is new to me. Gosh I remember uploading my first picture, it was the coolest thing since playing Scrabble, you know, the board game?

Board games are obsolete, cards on a family night have all but disappeared. Everyone spends time alone, and usually it is on the computer tapping keys, forgetting that a world exists out here.

I’ve never downloaded a single song, I like to use the old CD player for that. Gee, I might have to pull out my record player! A record player to you kids is the thing that those hip hop Dee Jay’s use to make that wicked squeaky sound, but us older folk actually used them to listen to music. Can you imagine that?

There is an audible world that comes alive when you close your eyes, did you know that? The blind have access to the secret dominion, and the sighted take it for granted. In my world where I never aspire to becoming a part of this technological world, I become one with the sounds of life. The hustle and bustle of the chirping birds, the wind dancing through the trees, cars roaring down the road, dove’s singing to their mate. All of this exist in the audible world called life.

So, as much as I want to continue on this Talk-o Tuesday audio stuff, I’m audio’ed out. Back to doing what I do best, writing about writing! Or writing about life and its ever changing aspects and the affect it is having on my life. :)

I’m not tired of writing or life yet. So on we go....:)

Talk-o Tuesday ~ The Audio Book World

Deut. 4: 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
***

How many times can I tell you about AudioBook Heaven? “Every Tuesday,” she says with a smile.

You see the audio book industry has something that the regular novel doesn’t. It has 21 st century appeal! By that, I mean there are more young kids not interested in reading books these days, what with all the texting going on in their lives, but an audio book is something they can put on their MP3 player and carry it with them.

I would much rather have a kid who listens to audio books while driving, than have one that texts and listens to loud awful head-banging music. Maybe the parents can get their kids interested in books, by way of the audio industry. Pop a disk into the car console and let him/her read while on the go!

Oprah has a new campaign going on about the “No Phone Zone.” She has a good point here. How many times have you been riding down the road, normal rate of speed, only to be cut off by someone, and you learn the person is on the phone, or trying to text while driving?

Oh this has happened way to many times to me and yeah, I’m as fed up as Oprah on the matter. Thus, I’m promoting Audio Books, in hopes to get people to put the darn phone down and pay attention.

What did we do BEFORE the advent of cell phones? Did we actually wait to get home to see what the wife wanted from the store? Did we NEED to talk on the phone and drive? Did we feel like something was missing from our lives if we didn’t talk and drive?

What on God’s green earth is so important to talk about that you can’t wait until you arrive home? I just don’t get it. Sure the cell is good for EMERGENCIES on the road, but is risking other people’s lives as important as that call?

I’ve had a cell phone for about seven years now. When I’m driving, I NEVER talk on the phone. If I need to call home and ask, “Did you need something, honey?” I make the call parked in the parking lot. If he wants to carry a conversation, I stay parked.

If the phone rings while I’m driving, I let it ring or pull to the side of the road and say, “I’m driving, what’s so important?” Have our lives gotten so hurried that we forget about other people’s lives? Do we have to live in the second/minutes, possibly costing us our eternity?

Choose to listen to an audio book. Choose NOT to answer the phone. CHOOSE LIFE!

Talk-o Tuesday

Talk-o Tuesday Abounds!

Well, I was with his family this weekend and overheard an interesting conversation. The discussion just so happened to be audio books. Comments abounded about how they never thought of listening to an audio book while exercising.

What? Then you’re not reading my blog are you?! Hmmph! How many times have I said over and over that audio books are excellent to listen to while on the treadmill, or stationary bike, where you can listen and workout at the same time? Yeah, I know, numerous. That is why so many of you ran out and bought an MP3 player right?

You visit Audio Book Heaven, get an idea of the book you want to pick out, and why not order it directly from that blog? Wow!

I heard all the pros and cons of why audio books were not good for walking and riding a bike. Not being able to hear the cars coming from behind was one of the major concerns, but then I remembered the benefit of listening while driving, kinda takes your mind off of the other scrambled egg mess you have going on in your brain.

Then there is the benefit of listening while on a plane. Gosh, you can just get swept away in a book and forget about how long the flight is. Audio books are a great form of taking you away to a place you only dreamed of without ever leaving your home, or turning a page! You can’t beat that now can you?

So what are you going to remember? Audio books are good! Joni says so, remember that. Now go enjoy the day and I’ll do the same!