The New Book Review

This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Career Speaker Reviews New How-To Take Terror Out of Public Speaking

Title: Would You Rather Be in the Coffin Than Give the Eulogy
Subtitle: how to take the terror out of public speaking and advance your career and social network: A Choker’s Guide to Public Speaking.
Author: Jan Hurst-Nicholson
Genre: nonfiction
ASIN: B07FJVP47B 
Format: E-book 
Publisher: Just4kix Books
Link to purchasehttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FJVP47B

Reviewed by Karen Siddall originally for Goodreads and Amazon


As a career public speaker, I can say that this book was an awesome little breath of inspiration and renewal. Good, common-sensical tips are presented in a practical way. Very helpful and refreshing and full of good ideas that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out. I especially enjoyed the asides of actual experiences “on the road.” I recommend this book especially to those that find themselves having to speak up and speak out at public gatherings of any kind! There is even a section regarding being chosen to say grace before a public meal.



MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jan Hurst-Nicholson grew up in the UK but now lives in sunny South Africa where she is personal chef and doorman to a dog that is forever on the wrong side of a door.
Jan has been writing for about 35 years, beginning with articles, humorous articles and short stories. She then moved on to write novels and children’s books.  It was when she began winning awards and was asked to give talks about her books that she realized she needed to learn some public speaking skills and joined a club. Her involvement in the club, and her experiences giving talks at numerous events led her to write this practical guide to help others new to public speaking. Learn more at Jan’s Amazon author page and Jan's website https://just4kix.jimdo.com/about-the-author/


Career Speaker Reviews New How-To Take Terror Out of Public Speaking


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Karen Siddall has worked in the public sector as a speaker and trainer for over 40 years in the fields of law enforcement, fire prevention, water conservation, and environmental education. She currently serves as the Public Relations and Education Administrator for the Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District in rural north central Texas. She is one of the many authors of Urban Environmental Education (Cornell University).


MORE ABOUT THIS REVIEW BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS


 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.


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Sunday, December 2, 2018

Invaluable and Engaging Read for Editing Books with Excellent Advice


The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets, from your query letters to final manuscript to the marketing of your new bestseller.


Title: The Frugal Editor

  • Series: HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for Writers
  • Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1505712114
  • ISBN-13: 978-1505712117

This book is engaging and fun to read. It answers the questions you have been considering researching someday as you write and wonder if you are doing the right thing. As I read, I learned answers to questions I didn’t know I had been thinking about.

This book will help you be frugal with your time. It may be used as a research book by consulting the index for all your projects.

Don’t turn in any manuscript without first reading this book. This book will help polish any writing piece.

The author suggests it is important to be open to accepting suggested edits. The difference between an editor and a someone who reads to find typos is well-explained in this book. You might need both!

The author explains:
*Writers should use Word editing, but not rely on it alone.
*Manual and digital proof-reading and editing are both important.
*Step-by-step information is provided for editing in Word.
*Books and web sites that will help a writer are recommended, as well.
*The difference between save and save as when naming manuscripts is explained. This is important to know so work is not accidentally lost.
Howard-Johnson explains why a manuscript should be edited for only one with one kind of edit at a time. The editing is never done!
Did you know the whole publishing world dislikes the term fictional novel? Novels, by definition, are fiction. Other terms the “whole publishing world” dislikes are also discussed to help writers avoid newbie mistakes.
To start a book title with the word the, or not? Certain issues arise if the title of your book starts with the (or a or an).
The author divulges agents’ pet peeves!
The book includes humor, such as this sentence: “Though find function is not a therapist, yours can help you with your personal oddities.”

Howard-Johnson explains the passive voice isn’t all bad, and examples of times it can be used are provided. The author gives the link to Rutgers University, which gives examples of how politicos and others use passive to weasel out of stuff. 

If you write nonfiction exclusively, did you know more nonfiction writers are using dialogue than ever before?

Ten easy ways to improve your dialogue are listed and explained.

Maybe you want to “Get Rid of Dialogue Migraines?”

Legitimate uses for the ampersand are given. Who knew?

Avoiding the green grocer’s apostrophe is discussed to avoid phrases such as, “Avocado’s Sold Here.”

Howard-Johnson says rules and guidelines for print and the Web are galaxies apart, and to think of them as different genres. Speaking of the web, she explains: 

1. How to avoid Internet shams and scams.
2. Guidelines for sending your submission packages by e-mail or snail mail are also discussed.

This book is invaluable!


Invaluable and Engaging Read for Editing Books with Excellent Advice

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

This review was originally posted on Goodreads and Amazon by Carolyn Wilhelm of Wise Owl Factory. 

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG 

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Friday, November 30, 2018

Synopsis for Brand New Sci-Fi Billed "Sci-Fi and So Much More"

Alpha Tales 2044
Wesley Britton 
Print Length: 173 pages
Publisher: Alien Vision (December 9, 2018)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC 
Language: English
ASIN: B07KJBSQG5
Available on Amazon Dec. 9 at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KJBSQG5



SNEAK PEEK SYNOPSIS

Alpha Tales opens on Beta-Earth when two genetically-enhanced mutants are forced to recover a stolen secret, the cure to the ancient Plague-With-No-Name that defined a planet for millennia.

Then we jump across the multi-verse to our earth forty years in the future where police Captain Mary Carpenter infiltrates a gang of White Supremacists who want to purify Texas of undesirables after decades of climate change and weaponized plagues.

Still on Alpha, we leap ahead in time where Mary Carpenter joins up with four aliens, two from Beta-Earth, two from Serapin-Earth.      All four share the same father, The Blind Alien from Alpha-Earth. They’ve traveled across the multi-verse to tell us about their worlds.

But Alphans, scarred by the devastations to our world, are unhappy about learning about very different cultures from anything we’ve ever known and especially hearing about multiple deities. So the alien band are forced to go on the run and take sanctuary in a First Nation domed city in British Columbia.

But their sanctuary doesn’t last long. Forced to travel further into the Canadian wilderness, the family encounters a pair of Sasquatch who change everything for them. They learn about the many definitions of what it means to be human.

A cornucopia of surprising stories, Alpha Tales 2044 is science fiction written by Dr. Wesley Britton and published by Alien Vision. The tales include sci-fi, murder mysteries, social commentary and horror. The tales are full of adventure, unexpected twists, and will leave you awestruck! 

Sold by Amazon Digital Service LLC, this is the seventh volume of the Beta-Earth chronicles series. The stand-alone book is currently available to preorder and will be released on 9th December 2018. 

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of The Beta Earth Chronicles and reviewer for BookPleasures.com. 
For more information, please visit https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KJBSQG5
Print and Kindle Editions of Wes Britton’s Alpha Tales 2044: Beta-Earth Chronicles are All Set to Be Published on December 9, 2018

Dr. Wesley Britton is author of The Beta Earth Chronicles

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as a way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Award-Winning Author Reviews Award-Winning Author

Finding True Home
Series: Book 2 of American Dream series
Author: Heidi M. Thomas
Genre: Women’s Fiction
ISBN: 978-0999066317

Reviewed by Karen Casey-Fitzjerrel originally for Amazon 


This book, based on life experiences of the author’s mother, is an emotional journey start to finish. Anna is a new bride of German descent in rural America a few years after World War II ends. She feels left out of the community lifeline where she and her husband have settled. At times she senses discrimination and believes she is the topic of gossip. The story opens as Anna finds out she is pregnant for a third time. The pregnancy is difficult with complications, including toxemia. To make matters worse, the child, a daughter, is plagued with colic, sleeplessness, and fits of screaming that last throughout her childhood.

In the rest of the story Anna slowly realizes her children have far different directions in mind for their lives than the one she has imagined. She struggles to understand why, in her view, her children have all gone wrong. A boy who leaves home as soon as he is of age, a first born daughter who goes away to college and has no plans to return to rural life, and lastly the youngest daughter who is willful beyond reason into adulthood.

For me, the book came full circle in the last pages but I don’t want to give a spoiler here.

This addition to Heidi M. Thomas’s body of work is sure to captivate readers as much as her previous books in which she offers readers rich and accurate accounts of obstacles young women faced eighty, ninety years ago. Young women who desperately want to step out of society’s restrictive molds. Thomas’s earlier books show us how Montana women, aspiring to participate in male dominated roles, faced their fears and naysayers with determination and courage. However, in Finding True Home, Thomas writes about a struggling mother and wife, new to mid-century America, who must examine her own thoughts in order to live in harmony with her family and community.


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

 Karen Casey Fitzjerrell is the author of Forgiving Effie Beck, winner of the Will Rodgers Gold Medallion Award. It was named Kirkus Reviews Best Independently Published Novel of 2015.


MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heidi M. Thomas grew up on a working ranch in eastern Montana, riding and gathering cattle for branding and shipping. Her parents taught her a love of books, and her grandmother rode bucking stock in rodeos. She followed her dream of writing with a journalism degree from the University of Montana. Heidi is the author of the award-winning “Cowgirl Dreams” novel series and Cowgirl Up: A History of Rodeo Women. Seeking the American Dream and Finding True Home are based on the author’s mother who emigrated from Germany after WWII. She is the author of
Cowgirl Up! A History of Rodeo Women (Winner Global e-book Awards)
1.Cowgirl Dreams (EPIC Award Winner)
2.Follow the Dream (WILLA Award Winner)
3.Dare to Dream (Finalist  International Book Awards)

Learn more about her at 

Finding-True-Home-by-Heidi-M-Thomas-on-the-New-Book-Review

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.


Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Midwest Book Review Loves New Literary Memoir

Book Girl
Sarah Clarkson
Tyndale Momentum
c/o Tyndale House Publishers
351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188
www.tyndale.com
9781496425805,
$15.99, PB, 288pp
www.amazon.com

Reviewed by Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief at MidwestBookReview.com

Synopsis: When you hear a riveting story, does it thrill your heart and stir your soul? Do you hunger for truth and goodness? Do you secretly relate to Belle’s delight in the library in Beauty and the Beast? If so, you may be on your way to being a book girl (or boy!).

Books were always Sarah Clarkson’s delight. Raised in the company of the lively Anne of Green Gables, the brave Pevensie children of Narnia, and the wise Austen heroines, she discovered reading early on as a daily gift, a way of encountering the world in all its wonder. But what she came to realize as an adult was just how powerfully books had shaped her as a woman to live a story within that world, to be a lifelong learner, to grasp hope in struggle, and to create and act with courage. She’s convinced that books can do the same for you.

In the pages of "Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life" readers will join Sarah in exploring the reading life as a gift and an adventure, one meant to enrich, broaden, and delight in each season of life as a woman.

In Book Girl, reader's will discover: How reading can strengthen your spiritual life and deepen your faith; Why a journey through classic literature might be just what you need (and where to begin); How stories form your sense of identity; How Sarah’s parents raised her to be a reader -- and can be done to cultivate a love of reading in the growing readers around us; and some 20+ annotated book lists, including some old favorites and many new discoveries.

Whether you’ve long considered yourself a reader or have dreams of becoming one, "Book Girl" will draw you into the life-giving journey of becoming a woman (or a man!) who reads and lives well.

Critique: Although primarily written for female readers as reflected in the title, "Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life" by author, blogger, and student of theology Sarah Clarkson is an extraordinary read that is very highly recommended to the attention of all dedicated bibliophiles regardless of gender. Rarely has a truer portrait of the joy and influence of a literate life been so well exemplified or showcased.

While "Book Girl" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that it is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.44) for the personal reading lists of students and non-specialists general readers with an interest in the subject. Librarians should note that "Book Girl" is also available as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781982558284, $34.95, CD).

And for the record, I have no personal or professional relationship to Sarah Clarkson and wouldn't recognize her if I were to pass her on the street.


MORE ABOUT MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

When you subscribe to Midwest Book Review's newsletters from--either the one edited by Jim Cox or Beth Cox--you get reviews directly to your e-mail box.  Jim's are always (most always?) related to reading or writing in one way or another.  He often ends the editorial portion of his letter with, "Now on to reviews of other new books with particular relevance and interest for authors and publishers: The Writing/Publishing Shelf." midwestbookreview.com

Midwest Book Review Loves New Literary Memoir


MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Poet Judith Skillman Reviews Carol Smallwood's "In the Measuring"





Title: In the Measuring
by Carol Smallwood
Publisher: Shanti Arts
August 2018, Paperback:120 pages, 
ISBN: 978-1-947067-38-7
$17.00

Reviewed by Judith Skillman, originally for Compulsive Reader

Carol Smallwood’s language is exuberant as she threads themes of childhood, adolescence, maturity, aging, and mortality through the seventy-seven poems of her new collection, In the Measuring. Using free verse as well as formal, she examines seasons, myths, childhood, nature, and the plethora of experiences we encounter in everyday life.

Mysteries arise for Smallwood as she examines the ordinary. Under her microscope, something as everyday as a carwash changes suddenly to a cornfield: “Driving home, the corn that’d emerged in spring in such/straight emerald lines paraded in crumpled gold.” (“Today,” p. 34). Here, memory illuminates a landscape one generally equates with winter: “…–it was windy,/bags and newspapers flying the streets.” Through her wielding of the microscopic lens, a stray moment of recall provides not only a blast of color, but also a dose of nostalgia.

The saying goes: “the devil is in the details”; for Smallwood, however, one may say “the angel is in the details”. Whether it is a person, a landscape or a thing, concrete images accrue and become more than the sum of their parts. 

For instance, in “Falling Leaves” (p. 36), the change of season from summer to fall creates nuances of feeling—in this case, of exile—which are echoed by new developments that have sprung up in a familiar locale. We have experienced this in contemporary life; it’s become normative and expected. For the witness in this poem, the tree losing its leaves becomes a metaphor for abrupt and continual change:

Nearby stands one tree
with fallen leaves crumpled
by sea change without
having seen the sea

Bringing the sea inland and giving the tree permission to “be” sensory without anthropomorphizing it is an angelic act, given the harsh details that “swirl” through this short piece.

The aforementioned exuberance comes with the author’s novel treatment of the everyday—those ordinary, mundane tasks and chores we take for granted. Who would think to write a pantoum about dishwashing liquid? Yet Smallwood carries it off, and braids colloquial language with scientific. She assumes a persona the reader can identify with:

There are so many on the shelves but had to select one —
antibacterial, concentrated, degreaser, biodegradable:
how bad were phosphates (what did they do) in the long run?
Surely an experienced housekeeper should be capable.(“A Dishwashing Liquid Pantoum”)

In addition to glancing aslant at a world overfull with choices,In the Measuringreveals the journey of an open-minded life-long learner and an ironic soul, one who wanders lightly through days and years. The line of questioning follows an all too familiar path we all tread—that of the mortal whose days and years are numbered. Through many modes of assessment, and myriad daily problems to be solved (even the mundane filling out of a questionnaire at the dentist (“Waiting for the Dental  Hygienist” p. 84) standard communications become wholly inadequate.

As the adventure unfolds, this explorer searching for a way to properly interpret, label, and explain the world in scientific terms learns lessons she passes on to the reader:

How much knowing is good for us to know?
Venus, the admired morning star, is a sulfuric hell.
Know Thyself can be a Medusa turn-to-stone blow:…(“Knowing”, 70)

When examining the role of childhood myths, from Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, to the Wizard of Oz, Smallwood waxes feminist: “Sleeping Beauty/was awakened by the prince./What would’ve happened if/she hadn’t been a beauty?” (79)

The overwhelming amount of information that must be processed more and more quickly in our contemporary world cannot be reduced—that is no longer an option. Reading Smallwood, however, is not only possible but advisable. She herself is an avid reader. Perhaps the best we can do to insulate ourselves from the inevitable intrusion of overload is to opt in to one of Smallwood’s worlds. An ideal example can be found in one of her vignettes, a four-line poem emblematic of the whole:

I’m a child again
wanting to read
darkened tree bark
like Braille (“On Days of Slow Rain”, 96)

As a wanderer, this female Don Quixote struggles until, as a compulsive searcher, she finds a way to lower the bar and arrive at home under her own terms. That is, she comes to grips with the impossibility of finding a proper answer to unanswerable questions. She turns from shadows cast by inanimate objects to actual living things, even if those things must be  bugs:

 “The Bug”/ “was on the post office floor so put it in my purse:…” (p. 100). 

What a surprising move.

The persona then goes on to describe what this insect liked: “…Subway lettuce, drops of coke in the car;”—and brings the bug round to another angelic moment: “It had survived countless species long extinct–/and if we wait, we may see the Spring”. Spring is capitalized intentionally here, for it is a Spring where the reader, who, we learn, lives between worlds (“I Read that Between,” 113) can hold winter and summer, and therefore light and darkness, at once.


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Judith Skillman’s recent books are Premise of Light, Tebot Bach; and Came Home to Winter, Deerbrook Editions. She is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust and from the Academy of American Poets. Her work has appeared in Shenandoah, Poetry, Cimarron Review, The Southern Review, and other journals. Visit www.judithskillman.com

Poet Judith Skillman Reviews Carol Smallwood's "In the Measuring"


MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG AND GETTING REVIEWS

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

A Shoutout to Talented Writers - Newbies and Published Authors Alike


TALES2INSPIRE® 
an "AUTHORS HELPING AUTHORS" PROJECT/CONTEST

Tales2Inspire® is a project I created nine years ago with two missions in mind. The first was to seek out stories to spread some good news. But as a retired educator and author, I had a second mission in mind. I wanted to give talented writers with an inspiring story to share an opportunity to make their voices heard. With the help of some prominent author advocates, word continued to spread. Accomplished authors and talented newbies alike have grabbed the opportunity. Why not? It’s FREE to enter and gives winners one more respected notch in their platform building belts.

Has the word FREE popped out at you yet? For one thing it is Free to enter this contest. For another, you can get a Free sampler of six Tales2Inspire published stories for your Kindle, Nook or iPad simply by going to www.tales2inspire.com/gifts. Not only will you enjoy these stories, but it will be really helpful for those entering this project/contest to read a few stories that have won past Tales2Inspire® awards.

THEME FOR 2021: TURNING THE PAGE
Be creative. Think in terms of:

 Turning a corner:

Saying goodbye to:

a life trauma, a habitual path, a past life direction, 

a beloved person or animal, a failed relationship . . . to start anew. 

The skies the limit, but just remember, it must be an inspiring, true story


Whether you are new to Tales2Inspire or have been with us before, a quick review of our Contest Guidelines will help you succeed, so be sure to follow the step-by-step instructions below.




GUIDELINES


* For guidelines on writing a winning story, CLICK HERE.

* To learn how to submit a story, CLICK HERE.

* To learn about winner rewards – What’s In it For YouCLICK HERE.

* To learn how stories are judged and how authors become part of that process, CLICK HERE.

* For post-judging editing support, CLICK HERE.




Don't forget,Tales2Inspire newcomers, download your FREE Tales2Inspire® sampler now. Not only is it a treat to read these inspiring stories, but it will give you a great idea of the type stories we like to publish.




TESTIMONIALS



Rod DiGruttolo, Sarasota, Fl.

Tales2Inspire is unique in that all those entering a 'tale' for consideration, have an opportunity to grow as authors. While there are winners in the entries, there are no losers.while Lois provides every author with the opportunity to see our work through other authors' eyes. By inspiring us toward writing mastery, she helps us inspire others.

 Starling Hiraldo, Lawrence, Mass.

Working with Lois has been one of the most eye-opening and rewording experiences of my life. I have learned to be grateful for human interaction and the importance of sharing stories with communities across the globe.


Claudia Domb, Smithtown, NY

Anonymously critiquing the work of three of my peers sharpened my critical thinking skills. In turn, having my story judged by three other authors was helpful to me. Being open to change can make for positive results, helping to polish an already great story to near perfect results.