Celebrate the Holidays with WordCrafter Press

Posted: November 30, 2020 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This holiday season I hope you’ll all come party with the WordCrafter authors featured in the three WordCrafter Press books which are now available in print. Come and join in the fun and learn more about the great new books offered by WordCrafter Press at the 2020 WordCrafter Holiday Book Party. Meet some of the contributing authors of three WordCrafter anthologies, who will be doing author takeovers, and will be available to engage and answer questions, including: myself, Cynthia Vespia, Janet Garber, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Margareth Stewart, Jeff Bowles, Jordan Elizabeth and Art Rosch.

The party is on Monday, December 7, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. MST on Facebook. There’s exciting things happening at WordCrafter Press that you won’t want to miss, including upcoming releases and additional author services to be offered. I’m sending out invites, so watch for yours. If you want to attend, but didn’t get one, click on the link above or feel free to contact me directly via messenger, or at kayebooth@yahoo.com.

I’m happy to announce that these three WordCrafter anthologies are now available in print editions:

Now you can get the author’s reference no writer should be without. Learn from the experts in Ask the Authors. Sixteen seasoned authors share writing tips and advice on topics that include craft, editing and revision, publishing and book marketing and promotion. Dan Alatorre, Amy Cecil, Cynthia Vespia, Tom Johnson, Ashley Fontainne, R.A. Winter, Tim Baker, Lilly Rayman, Chris Barili, Carol Riggs, Arthur Rosch, Mark & Kym Todd, Janet Garber, Jordan Elizabeth, Margareth Stewart, Chris Dibella and Kaye Lynne Booth. A great gift for that special author in your life.

Available now on Amazon.

Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1393718671/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Kaye+Lynne+Booth&qid=1606248905&s=books&sr=1-1

Digital:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B44RRVR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

Spirits of the west are often found in unexpected places.  They can be found on a in a saloon in Colorado territory, on a wagon train in the plains of South Africa, or on a distant planet in another galaxy. They can be the bringers of revenge or the protectors of the weak. Indulge yourself in eight paranormal stories with western spirit in Spirits of the West. Contributors include Enid Holden, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Jeff Bowles, Arthur Rosch, Tom Johnson, and Kaye Lynne Booth.

Available now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LW5R368/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Whispers of the Past includes seven thought provoking paranormal stories from six talented authors. The past is calling. Listen to hear it’s whispers. Contibutors include Jeff Bowles, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Stevie Turner, Julie Goodswen, Laurel McHargue, and Kaye Lynne Booth.

Available now on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08288GNC9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6

Other exciting news: WordCrafter Press recently released two books by Kaye Lynne Booth. Last Call and Other Short Fiction is a collection of short stories of multiple genres, and Hidden Secrets is a paranormal mystery novella. Both are available in digital format now and will soon be available in print editions.

Last Call and Other Short Fiction: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NXXQB6R/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i5

Hidden Secrets: https://books2read.com/u/38RZ2O

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Meet poet, Balroop Singh, and a review of Magical Whispers

Posted: November 28, 2020 | Author: robbiesinspiration | Filed under: Uncategorized | 57 Comments

Today, I have the pleasure of featuring talented poet, Balroop Singh, as my Treasuring Poetry guest. Balroop has shared some lovely thoughts about poetry and her favourite poems. My review of her latest book, Magical Whispers, is included at the end of the post.

You can find out more about Balroop Singh and her poetry on her lovely blog here: https://balroop2013.wordpress.com/about/

What is your favourite poem?

How can you have one poem as a favorite? They have been changing with my growing years. From Rumi to Rudyard Kipling to Maya Angelou, poetry has always evoked images of romanticism, realism and Sufism and I got carried away with those images depending on the phase of my life.

As a youngster, I liked ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost. It acquainted me with the beautiful images and simple style of writing a poem, inspired me to read more poetry, nudged me to keep the promises that we make to ourselves. It also calls upon the reader to focus, to brush aside the distractions and temptations and move ahead.

As a student of English Literature, I fell in love with the nature poetry of William Wordsworth, as his poems told me to carry the beauty of nature in the “inward eye” and feel the “bliss of solitude” in “vacant or in pensive mood.” His Daffodils entrances me even today. I must’ve read it a thousand times!

‘The Little Black Boy’ by William Blake became my favorite when I taught it to my students. The emotional appeal to end racism that the poet makes in this poem is still relevant. His imagery is exceptional and his simple, convincing style moved me. Then I stumbled across ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling and it became my all time favorite. The values it imparts resonate with me.

Slowly the alleys I walked down widened into avenues of observation and experience and I discovered more poems of human interest. Poetry that focuses on what lies within a human heart, combined with imagination and imagery from nature appeals to me.

Recently I stumbled across this gem, an outstanding poem written in 1932. It  demonstrates an incredible power to assuage loss and anguish. Though the poet had written it for her friend who could not visit her mother’s grave due to disturbing times, its popular appeal can be judged from the fact that it was read by the father of a young soldier, who had been killed by a bomb in Northern Ireland.

“Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.” – Mary  Elizabeth Frye

This poem conjures a thousand images of nature to lift the gloomy mood, which fades away in the wake of so much positivity. Read it twice and you would be transported into a different world. My heart misses a beat each time I read it.

Life seems have come a full circle, as once again, a poem written in a simple style has appealed so much to me.

If you could choose to write like any well-known poet, who would it be?

Robert Frost and William Wordsworth have been my early influences but now I would like to write like Adrienne Rich, an American poet, essayist and feminist who could criticize conservative attitudes of the society through her works. Just look at her powerful poetry:

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers by Adrienne Rich

“Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.”

What tugs at my heart is the message of subjugation that these lines convey in a very succinct manner. ‘Massive weight’ symbolizes aunt Jennifer’s ordeals in an unhappy marriage. At the same time, it also hints at the inability of the patriarchs to control the mind of women. Aunt Jennifer may be tied by societal norms, she could have been dominated by the “master,” (a symbol for her husband) but the art she creates with her ivory needle symbolizes freedom – “tigers prance,” “they do not fear the men.”

Only symbols speak in her poetry. The way hope and despair merge in this poem is outstanding. There are very few poets who focus on social and political themes with the fervor of Adrienne Rich.

I have tried a similar style: (An excerpt from Emerging From Shadows)

FLYING HIGH

The path I chose, I follow it with pride

Thorny monsters monitor my trail

I know I can brush them aside

Each one reminds me of you.

Each spike strengthened me.

Unrequited love is not my shriek

I know this love let me grow

I know obscure alleys scream louder.

Respect, reverence, self-esteem

Are my basic requisites.

I refuse to be a competitor

Who struggles for personal rights.

The stumble, the search stirred me.

Questions that haunted my sleep

Clamor and clutter… all that robs my peace

Elevates me, helps me detach!

I am no longer tied to the cliffs.

Threats don’t hold any ground

I have decided to fly high

On the winds of cool complacence.

Who has the audacity to ask?

Who can misconstrue my intrepid intentions?

Who can doubt my positive power?

No one can sway my dauntless decision.

© Balroop Singh

Meet the poet

Balroop Singh, a former teacher and an educator always had a passion for writing.  She is a poet, a creative non-fiction writer, a relaxed blogger and a doting grandma. She writes about people, emotions and relationships. Her poetry highlights the fact that happiness is not a destination but a chasm to bury agony, anguish, grief, distress and move on! No sea of solitude is so deep that it can drown us. Sometimes aspirations are trampled upon, boulders of exploitation and discrimination may block your path but those who tread on undeterred are always successful.

When turbulences hit, when shadows of life darken, when they come like unseen robbers, with muffled exterior, when they threaten to shatter your dreams, it is better to break free rather than get sucked by the vortex of emotions.

A self-published author, she is the poet of Sublime Shadows of Life , Emerging From Shadows, Timeless Echoes   and Moments We Love – all widely acclaimed poetry books. She has recently published Magical Whispers, another poetry book. She has also written When Success Eludes, Emotional Truths Of Relationships Read FREE with Kindle Unlimited and Allow Yourself to be a Better Person. Balroop Singh has always lived through her heart. She is a great nature lover; she loves to watch birds flying home. The sunsets allure her with their varied hues that they lend to the sky. She can spend endless hours listening to the rustling leaves and the sound of waterfalls. The moonlight streaming through her garden, the flowers, the meadows, the butterflies cast a spell on her. She lives in San Ramon, California.

My review of Magical Whispers by Balroop Singh

What Amazon says

I wait for whispers; they regale my muse. Whispers that can be heard by our heart, whispers that ride on the breeze to dispel darkness and ignite hope. I’m sure you would hear them through these poems if you read slowly.
‘Magical Whispers’ would transport you to an island of serenity; beseech you to tread softly on the velvety carpet of nature to feel the ethereal beauty around you. The jigsaw of life would melt and merge as you dive into the warmth of words.

In this book, my poems focus on the whispers of Mother Nature, whispers that are subtle but speak louder than words and breathe a quiet message.
Each day reminds us
It’s the symphony of surroundings
That whispers life into us.

My review

Magical Whispers is a beautiful collection of freestyle poems from a talented poet. Each of the 73 poems speaks to a special event or sight in nature or an experience in life’s journey with a ‘whispered’ undertone of emotion. The poems are divided into two sections, with the first mainly about the magic of our natural environment and the second about the magic of our human lives.

Two wonderful examples of this undercurrent of whispered emotion are as follows:
“Whispers that stood walled,
That could dispel his darkness
Now they seethe and speak
Louder than his voice.”
From Secret Whispers

“They made me who I am
A reclusive introvert.
They told me I don’t have rights,
I was born to be controlled.”
From A Loner

The poet makes use of the most delightful imagery. Her writing is so lovely it is difficult to select one illustrative example, but this is a paragraph that particularly struck me while reading this book:

“What how they gleam
And say adieu to the sun
But shimmer with delight
In moonlight!”
From Did You Hear the Whisper?

A lovely book of poetry and one I highly recommend.

Purchase Magical Whispers

Amazon US

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Spend Hallow’s Eve with WordCrafter

Posted: October 19, 2020 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

WordCrafter hosts a Halloween book event every year, but this Halloween may be a little more weird than usual. Trick or treating and in person parties are just extra chances for exposure to Covid 19. If our kids do trick or treat, candy will not only need to be inspected, but also disinfected, before eating. In fact, Halloween may not be all fun and games this year. It has the potential to be downright scary for real, and that’s not fun at all.

That’s why I’m inviting all of my readers to join in on a virtual Halloween party, the 2020 WordCrafter Halloween Book Bash. It’s a short event this year, running 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. MDT on All Hallow’s Eve on Facebook. I hope you’ll all join myself and my co-hosts, Mark McQuillen, Ellie Raine, and Jordan Elizabeth for an evening of ghosts and ghouls, witches and warlocks, vampires and werewolves, and lots of books. There will be games and giveaways, so you can get your copy of the authors’ latest releases. Don’t miss out on all the fun. Spend your Halloween with us.

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Meet poet, Frank Prem, and learn his thoughts about poetry

Posted: August 22, 2020 | Author: robbiesinspiration | Filed under: Uncategorized | 52 Comments

Today, talented poet, Frank Prem, has joined me to share about his favourite poem, why he likes it and what it means to him. His thoughts are very inspiring.

Frank shares a lot of his wonderful work on his blog here: https://frankprem.wordpress.com/.

Now, over to Frank.

What is your favourite poem

Usually when I’m invited to contemplate personal favourites among poets and their poetry I hark back to contemplate what the godfathers of Australian poetry (A.B. (The Banjo) Patterson and Henry Lawson represent for me. I feel great affection for both these writers as communicators and storytellers in their work.

While I admire their work very much and often refer to Patterson’s Clancy of the Overflow (http://www.wallisandmatilda.com.au/clancy-of-the-overflow.shtml), or Lawson’s short story The Drover’s Wife (http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DrovWife.shtml) as examples of work that inspires me in my own storytelling efforts, today my contemplations have led me toward more contemporary writing and more personal inspiration.

Some years back, when I was in the first flush of joy at recognising myself as a poet – that experience of looking into a mirror and seeing a different self gazing back – I spent all my free moments pursuing the threads and trails of writing and learning what it meant to be a writer. I haunted the spoken word poetry scene of Melbourne at the time (around 1999, or thereabouts), to learn and to hone and develop.

The great and acknowledged master of Australian poetry at that time (and right through until his death in 2019) was Les Murray. He was a big man in every respect and it happened that he was visiting Melbourne to speak and to do some readings of his own work in a range of locations across one weekend.

I didn’t much about Murray at the time, but made it my business to haunt his footsteps from venue to venue, and to be in every one of his audiences. Maybe to ask a question.

It was quite an experience and one of the poems that he read had a huge impact on me, as a budding and aspiring writer. Watching and listening to Murray read it was a marvellous experience, and one that I still reflect back on from time to time, and wonder if the way that my writing has evolved owes more or less to that occasion.

The poem that so involved me is called An absolutely ordinary rainbow. My source for the poem (below) is http://www.lesmurray.org/index.htm

An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow

The word goes round Repins,

the murmur goes round Lorenzinis,

at Tattersalls, men look up from sheets of numbers,

the Stock Exchange scribblers forget the chalk in their hands

and men with bread in their pockets leave the Greek Club:

There’s a fellow crying in Martin Place. They can’t stop him.

The traffic in George Street is banked up for half a mile

and drained of motion. The crowds are edgy with talk

and more crowds come hurrying. Many run in the back streets

which minutes ago were busy main streets, pointing:

There’s a fellow weeping down there. No one can stop him.

The man we surround, the man no one approaches

simply weeps, and does not cover it, weeps

not like a child, not like the wind, like a man

and does not declaim it, nor beat his breast, nor even

sob very loudly—yet the dignity of his weeping

holds us back from his space, the hollow he makes about him

in the midday light, in his pentagram of sorrow,

and uniforms back in the crowd who tried to seize him

stare out at him, and feel, with amazement, their minds

longing for tears as children for a rainbow.

Some will say, in the years to come, a halo

or force stood around him. There is no such thing.

Some will say they were shocked and would have stopped him

but they will not have been there. The fiercest manhood,

the toughest reserve, the slickest wit amongst us

trembles with silence, and burns with unexpected

judgements of peace. Some in the concourse scream

who thought themselves happy. Only the smallest children

and such as look out of Paradise come near him

and sit at his feet, with dogs and dusty pigeons.

Ridiculous, says a man near me, and stops

his mouth with his hands, as if it uttered vomit—

and I see a woman, shining, stretch her hand

and shake as she receives the gift of weeping;

as many as follow her also receive it

and many weep for sheer acceptance, and more

refuse to weep for fear of all acceptance,

but the weeping man, like the earth, requires nothing,

the man who weeps ignores us, and cries out

of his writhen face and ordinary body

not words, but grief, not messages, but sorrow,

hard as the earth, sheer, present as the sea—

and when he stops, he simply walks between us

mopping his face with the dignity of one

man who has wept, and now has finished weeping.

Evading believers, he hurries off down Pitt Street.

Les Murray- The Weatherboard Cathedral, 1969

What is your interpretation of this poem?

This poem, in my interpretation, at least, is describing a kind spiritual awe and fascination bestowed on the most commonplace event. Someone (a man) weeping in a public place.

Every moment of every day someone – so many someone’s – is weeping. When might that be an event worthy of attention from a passing stranger, intent on personal business, and important matters?

When is the commonplace worthy of wonder?

The poem has me holding my breath, as I view the scene and watch the spectators thronging to worship, or condemn or simply to gawk before discussion at another time. Perhaps over dinner in the evening.

An ordinary event (rainbow) on the walkways of the main business centre in Sydney that no one can ignore.

What emotions does this poem invoke in you?

In reading, or listening to this poem being read, I feel the emotions swirling through the crowd – the curiosity and the wonder, the incredulity and intolerance. The wondering of what it could be about, how to stop it. Why did he stop weeping just when he did?

I am caught up in the narrative and inclined towards grief, but I don’t know quite why. Like the children, this poem caused me to sit at Murray’s feet.

If you could choose to write like any well-known poet, who would it be?

I go to some lengths, nowadays, to avoid reading any well known poet’s work too deeply. I feel so overfull of my own stories and writing imperatives that I fear, a little, being too influenced by any other powerful storyteller.

This work of Murray’s and some other of his material speaks to me, particularly when read aloud, as though it came from my own pen, in small ways and through small familiarities. Murray tells stories and peppers them with layers of meaning, or of question. He can be read at many levels, while retaining a lived contemporary feel within the work.

Literature without the excess baggage.

That is the kind of writing that I aspire to. Storytelling that can be spoken as conversational tale, and read as meaningful verse.

What is special to you about this poet’s writing style?

The power of Murray’s free verse is inspirational. There is no question that he is giving us capita ‘P’ poetry, but it is in a free verse form. There is such art in achieving the sharp brevity of ‘show, don’t tell’, within the confines of a fully fledged short story, as the piece above is.

Murray’s death (29 April 2019) is a huge loss to contemporary literature, I think.

Vale, Les.

A Kiss for the Worthy – Poetry book

Book review

A Kiss for the Worthy is the second book in a trilogy of poetry books, each inspired by a poem by a well-known and loved poet. In this, Book 2, Frank selected Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and used each line to write a poem of his own creation and inspiration.

I enjoyed this book very much and found the poems to be of a lighter tone than those included in Book 1. These poems revolve very much around the I, of the poem, and his interaction with nature and the world around him. The poems about with energy and his joy in what he sees and hears and also in the strength and endurance of his own body.

An example of this physical joy in nature is illustrated in this extract from be this (with kisses):

“turn your face

up

to feel the sun

pouring

warm and light

and good upon it”

And also in this beautiful extract from inhale (my heart):

“and where I strode

I raised

with salt flecks

in froth

and in the bubbles”

I really recommend this book of uplifting poetry to lovers of this genre.

Purchase A Kiss for the Worthy by Frank Prem

About Robbie Cheadle

Hello, my name is Robbie, short for Roberta. I am an author with six published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with my son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about my mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with my mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton). All of my children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.

I have recently branched into adult and young adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential my children’s books from my adult writing, I plan to publish these books under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. My first supernatural book published in that name, Through the Nethergate, is now available.

I have participated in a number of anthologies:

• Two short stories in #1 Amazon bestselling anthology, Dark Visions, a collection of horror stories edited by Dan Alatorre;
• Three short stories in Death Among Us, an anthology of murder mystery stories, edited by Stephen Bentley;
• Three short stories in #1 Amazon bestselling anthology, Nightmareland, a collection of horror stories edited by Dan Alatorre; and
• Two short stories in Whispers of the Past, an anthology of paranormal stories, edited by Kaye Lynne Booth.

I also have a book of poetry called Open a new door, with fellow South African poet, Kim Blades.

Find Robbie Cheadle

Blog: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com

Twitter: BakeandWrite

Instagram: Robbie Cheadle – Instagram

Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books

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Welcome to Day 8 of the “WHISPERS OF THE PAST” Blog Tour! @RobertaEaton17 @ @4WillsPub

Posted: March 30, 2020 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Day 8 of “Whispers of the Past” book blog tour is over at “Writing & Music”. Thanks Jan Sikes for hosting. 🙂 Drop by and check out Robbie Cheadles post about rabies and her inspiration for “Missed Signs”. Check it out.

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Welcome-to-day-7-of-the-whispers-of-the-past-blog-tour-robertaeaton17-4willspub

Posted: March 30, 2020 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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