A Poetry Reading from Small Wonders: A Tanka Poem
Posted: April 28, 2024 Filed under: Book Sales, Books, Collection, Poetry, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Kaye Lynne Booth, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Poetry Readings, Small Wonders, WordCrafter Press 4 CommentsOn Sale for National Poetry Month – Only $2.99
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SmallWonders
A Look at Poetry Reviews of the Past Year: Cashing Checks with Jim Morrison
Posted: April 27, 2024 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Collection, Poetry, Review Leave a commentMind Fields: December 7
Posted: April 26, 2024 Filed under: Mind Fields, Poetry | Tags: Arthur Rosch, Mind Fields, Poetry, Writing to be Read Leave a commentDecember 7
All experience is in you.
All suffering, all joy, all confusion,
all presence, all absence
is in you.
If I make a mis-step, you catch me.
If I can’t feel you catch me,
I fall and fall, and eventually I will
come to know
that I have fallen into you.
If I rise to a great height
and see my glory,
I will be standing in my own shadow,
for you are behind me.
If I feel alone, and yearn
for something until the pit of my stomach aches
with incompleteness,
you have meant for me to know that.
I am only where I am, watching, waiting
to be born, to live, to die,
to feel you with me, so certain am I
that you are everything.
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Arthur Rosch is a novelist, musician, photographer and poet. His works are funny, memorable and often compelling. One reviewer said “He’s wicked and feisty, but when he gets you by the guts, he never lets go.” Listeners to his music have compared him to Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Randy Newman or Mose Allison. These comparisons are flattering but deceptive. Rosch is a stylist, a complete original. His material ranges from sly wit to gripping political commentary.
Arthur was born in the heart of Illinois and grew up in the western suburbs of St. Louis. In his teens he discovered his creative potential while hoping to please a girl. Though she left the scene, Arthur’s creativity stayed behind. In his early twenties he moved to San Francisco and took part in the thriving arts scene. His first literary sale was to Playboy Magazine. The piece went on to receive Playboy’s “Best Story of the Year” award. Arthur also has writing credits in Exquisite Corpse, Shutterbug, eDigital, and Cat Fancy Magazine. He has written five novels, a memoir and a large collection of poetry. His autobiographical novel, Confessions Of An Honest Man won the Honorable Mention award from Writer’s Digest in 2016.
More of his work can be found at www.artrosch.com
Photos at https://500px.com/p/artsdigiphoto?view=photos
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Submission Deadline Approaching
Posted: April 25, 2024 Filed under: Anthology, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing Contest | Tags: 2024 Dark Fiction Anthology, Dark fiction, Submission Deadline, Submission Guidelines, WordCrafter 2024 Short Fiction Contest, WordCrafter Press 7 CommentsTime is running out fast for you to get your submission on for the 2024 WordCrafter Short Fiction contest, and a chance to have your story featured in the 2024 Dark Fiction anthology by WordCrafter Press. The approching deadline is April 30, 2024. You can find the submission guidelines here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/01/01/call-for-submissions/
In Touch with Nature – Highly endangered African painted wild dogs #Africanwildlife #Africanwilddogs
Posted: April 24, 2024 Filed under: Africa, Animals, In Touch With Nature, Nature, Wildlife | Tags: African Wild Dogs, In Touch With Nature, Nature, Robbie Cheadle, Wildlife, Writing to be Read 68 CommentsThe African wild dog, also called the hunting dog or African painted dog, is currently listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, only 6,600 African wild dogs remain in the wild across the entire African continent. The main reason for their endangerment is habitat fragmentation (the most common reason for wildlife endangerment) which causes conflict between these predators and humans. Throughout Africa, wild dogs have been shot and poisoned by farmers for loss of livestock, even though these losses are frequently due to other predators including hyenas and leopards. In addition, African wild dogs also suffer from endemic disease outbreaks.
African wild dogs have a mottled coat comprising of yellow, black and white patches. They have long legs with flat, broad heads, a short black muzzle, and large round ears.
Wild dogs have strong social bonds and live in packs of two to twenty-seven adults and yearling pups.
Wild dogs are excellent hunters. They hunt in packs of six to twenty individuals and catch their prey by chasing them to exhaustion. Wild dogs can run at speeds of up to 66 km/h (41 mph) for between 10 to 60 continuous minutes. They have an 80 percent kill success rate with is higher than bigger predators like lions and leopards.
Observers have noticed that prior to setting out to hunt, the wild dogs’ populations in the Okavango Delta of Botswana rally to determine whether they should depart. Departure is more likely when more individual dogs sneeze, a short sharp exhale through the nostrils. If a dominant dog initiates by sneezing, around three additional sneezes guarantee departure.
Sighting a pack of African wild dogs in the wild has been on my bucket list for a long time. I was lucky enough to see a pack of wild dogs at the Bthongo Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve but they live inside a relatively small enclosure and are fed.
Obviously, seeing wild dogs in captivity is not quite the same as seeing them in a national park or game reserve. I was, therefore, delighted when we saw wild dogs at Madikwe Game Reserve not once, but two days in a row. We were fortunate enough to observe, the hunt (chase), devouring of a kill, and wild dogs relaxing and having fun.
The poem below, Dog Vote, is extracted from my poetry book, Lion Scream.
Dog Vote
They yelp and growl at play
Then sleep in a mass
Of black fur, overlapped with yellow and white
They are invisible
Among the shadows
***
Having strong social bonds
Wild dogs live in packs
Dominated by a single breeding pair
But they all have a say
Conveyed as a vote
***
Before leaving to hunt
The adults rally
Sneezing to express a preference to hunt
The majority rules
All members comply
This is my YT video of African wild dogs playing:
African wild dogs in a gathering:
About Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has two published novels and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).
Roberta also has thirteen children’s books and two poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.
Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5
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Time is Short: WordCrafter Poetry Books Sale Ends April 30
Posted: April 23, 2024 Filed under: Book Sales, Poetry, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Book Sale, Feral Tenderness, National Poetry Month, Poetry Books, Poetry Treasures, Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships, Poetry Treasures 3: Passions, Small Wonders, WordCrafter Press Leave a commentNational Poetry Month is coming to a close and so is the sale on WordCrafter Press poetry books. Be sure to pick up copies of these lovely poetry collections while they are still at the great price of $2.99. But don’t delay because the sale is about to end and they will all go back up to their regular price.
Writer’s Corner: Visceral Character Portrayal
Posted: April 22, 2024 Filed under: Character Development, Writer's Corner, Writing | Tags: Character Development, Kaye Lynne Booth, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing to be Read 3 CommentsThis post has been a long time in coming. It was promised back when I posted “Writer’s Corner: Creating Characters with Depth” back in September. I finally got back around to tackling this subject, so let’s delve in.
While our characters need to be deep, they also need to be characters which readers can relate to and feel like they know, so that readers will care about what happens in our story enough to keep reading. A good part of this work is done at the beginning of the story, where we first introduce our characters. There are several methods we can use to make our characters feel more real to readers.
Save the Cat
All characters are flawed, just as all people are flawed, but they must also have redeeming qualities if readers are going to care about what happens to them. This method of redeeming our characters comes from Blake Snyder and his screenwriting book of the same name, Save the Cat. The idea is to reveal the good qualities of your protagonist through a good deed, like saving a cat in an opening scene.
Not all protagonists start out a story as the good guy or hero. In fact, in a story which follows the hero’s journey, the protagonist is usually reluctant to take on the role which he or she has been given. Bilbo Baggins comes to mind from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, where the character has no desire to leave his cozy hobbit hole and go on the adventure he’s been called on to take.
In Sarah, which will be released next month, I have a scene where we see Sarah, who goes by Hair of Fire in her Ute family, sits at the bedside of a sick child, administering healing medicines and showing concern for the child. Sarah is a nice character and this small act is enough to show reveal her caring qualities. Her hero’s journey begins when she is snatched away from her tribe and has no choice but to embark upon her journey.
Often our characters are not nice people to start out with, and developing redeeming qualities may be a part of their character arc, so the changes won’t be seen until fiurther along in the story. But they must have some redeeming qualities or the readers may not like them enough to route for them.
The worse a character is, the bigger the redeeming deed must be. So if you have a character like Dexter, a serial killer who kills serial killers you must try harder to show the softer, caring side, by showing how he supports his sister and can really be a nice guy. I would think it could be really rough getting readers, or viewers, to relate to someone who goes out and brutally kills people, even if they might deserve it. Dexter’s save the cat event comes when he saves the next victim of the serial killers who become his victims, a tricky ploy to pull off for the writers. Redeeming a character like Dexter could be quite a challenge.
Heart’s Desire
I was listening to Wulf Moon on the Stark Reflections podcast, episode 341. Wulf is a writer who found success at a young age and winner of the Writers of the Future contest, who turned his own success into a way to help his fellow writers to learn about the essentials of writing a good story. He claims readers must see & feel what is important to the character, what drives them to action and propels the story forward in order to care about the character and carry them through the story or series. Wulf calls this the “Heart’s Desire” and he claims that he’s found that one of the mistakes beginning writers make often is to not tap into the heart’s desire and let your readers see this aspect of your character.
I discussed this a bit in that previous blog blog post, (linked above), on giving your characters depth using the character triangle to identifying the character’s flaws, their need, and their “want”, but “Heart’s Desire” is stronger and more applicable term for the motivating factor for your character. No matter what you call it, by revealing what matters to your character, and what makes them take action, and their flaws, readers get a glimpse into what makes your character human.
Subtext and Inner Dialog
In The Rock Star & The Outlaw, Amaryllis is an adrenaline junkie who thrives on taking risks with her life through drugs, alcohol, and dangerous behaviors. Not a very savory character to start with at the beginning of the story, she winds up killing her boyfriend in self-defense and running from his cronnies and the law. In order to make readers care about her, I had to reveal things about her past, and show her vulnerablities through her relationship with Monique, her interactions with LeRoy, and her determination to stay by his side when she could have run and saved herself. To be sure my readers didn’t overlook the hints as to her motivations, I revealed them through inner dialog and subtext, putting her thoughts out there so there would be no misunderstandings about her motivations.
Subtext is found in body language and tone of voice. It is the feelings which lie just below the surface and may indicate things are quite different from what they appear. You can check out my archive post from 2017, “Dialog: Talking in Subtext” to get a deeper discussion on how to use subtext to make your characters feel more real.
Inner dialog can be used anywhere it is needed to clarify character motivations and help readers see where the character is coming from or understand the direction in which they are going, helping readers to relate to them. When Dexter’s inner thoughts are revealed, and they use this a lot in that series, viewers come away feeling that his actions are, if not justified, then at least understandable, making Dexter seem like maybe not such a bad guy, if misguided by his background. If readers, or viewers, can see the character’s point of view, they understand the character better, even if they don’t agree with it.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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A Reading from Small Wonders: “Bird Watching”
Posted: April 21, 2024 Filed under: Book Sales, Books, Collection, Poetry, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Kaye Lynne Booth, National Poetry Month, Poetry Collection, Poetry Readings, Small Wonders, WordCrafter Press 2 CommentsOn sale for National Poetry Month – Only $2.99
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SmallWonders