Writerly Gifts

Here's a unique gift idea for yourself or any of your writerly friends -- services from A Writer's Edge. Design them with me. A few suggestions: an hour of publishing consultations, any editorial services or manuscript evaluations. Contact Me for details and arrangements or send me an email.

Help is available for improving writing, formatting manuscripts for submission or self-publishing, guidance through the confusing dance of queries, synopses, outlines, multiple submissions, copyright and all the other parts of the path to publication. Maybe you'd just like some advice on whether or not to self-publish that chapbook of poetry, your memoirs or a collection of short stories. Only 15 minutes of consultation can make a world of difference for you.

Be Quick, Win Book

Reading Girl Mary by Petru Popescu set me pondering the books I've read in the last few years about significant women in religions. I thought it must be rather difficult to write about them, especially in light of the current tensions among different groups. Would I dare to fictionalize one, or not, because of fear of retaliation?

I asked Popescu that question, and he indicated he had no trepidations at all, but he did offer to tell us about writing this book. He has advice for approaching historical figures as novel subjects. He said to write with "passion" and that: "When you write about the mystical, you believe in it. That is the rule of thumb and the best advice I can give to writers who attempt to write about religion and its formidably puzzling characters and events."

I have copies of Girl Mary to send to the first five people who comment (US addresses only, please) on the post at A Writer's Edge.

Writers Change the Future

If you could have a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of people in the future, would you do it? I'm not setting up a sci-fi plot or harping on global warming (though it applies).

I refer to the opportunity for TV writers, producers, sponsors and supporters to help change factors underlying the most prevalent public health dangers: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, addictions and mental illnesses. According to the ground-breaking Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, these health issues are highly associated with childhood trauma like:

# Recurrent physical abuse
# Recurrent emotional abuse
# Contact sexual abuse
# An alcohol and/or drug abuser in the household
# An incarcerated household member
# Someone who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
# Mother is treated violently
# One or no parents
# Emotional or physical neglect

I saw the valid and shocking statistical results from this well-designed research. The more traumas a person experiences before the age of 18, the greater the probability that he or she will develop one or more of the health problems listed above. Not just "twice as likely", but in the hundreds, even thousands of times greater chances.

After presenting this compelling material, I asked Dr. Vincent J. Felitti, author of the work, about solutions for the resulting health issues beyond psychotherapy and psychoactive drugs. He shrugged and said, "I don't have any." What he does have is a vision for a preventative scenario: soap operas.

"When you go into the homes of these [damaged] people, what do you find? Always, a television. And what do they all watch? Not CNN, but soap operas." He explained that many people need positive modeling to become better parents. We must start this change where it would be most effective. People at risk do engage with television, and watch programs like the soaps, looking to the characters for clues as to how to act, Felitti said.

I've seen this idea play out in the 40 years I've been hooked on "Days of Our Lives", my surrogate family. Last spring, the series featured characters "greening" their homes and businesses (global warming), and everyone carried water bottles and worked out at the gym. Writers could weave in mentoring on the ACE Study factors through the intricate plot lines. I'm thinking that for all her heaving and weeping about being such a good mother, Sami hardly ever has her children around. She neglects them. Maybe Sami could actually learn to be a good mother.

Other TV programs people watch in droves are the so-called reality ones, which suggest another opportunity to begin a parenting revolution. If people are going to suckle at the teat of the great boob tube, let's give them nourishment for the future. It is a challenge that taxes writers' creativity and program investors' far-sightedness and dedication to values easily mouthed and more difficult to actualize.

Poor Dear Abby!

Dear Abby was speechless when these came in:

Dear Abby:
A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid-twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I've never seen a man go into their apartment or come out. Do you think they could be Lebanese?

Dear Abby:
What can I do about all the sex, nudity, language and violence on my VCR?

Dear Abby:
I have a man I never could trust. He cheats so much I'm not even sure this baby I'm carrying is his.

Dear Abby:
I am a twenty-three-year-old liberated woman who has been on the pill for two years. It's getting expensive and I think my boyfriend should share half the cost, but I don't know him well enough to discuss money with him.

Dear Abby:
I suspected that my husband had been fooling around, and when I confronted him with the evidence he denied everything and said it would never happen again.

Dear Abby:
Our son writes that he is taking Judo. Why would a boy who was raised in a good Christian home turn against his own?

Dear Abby:
I joined the Navy to see the world. I've seen it. Now, how do I get out?

Dear Abby:
My forty-year-old son has been paying a psychiatrist $50 an hour every week for two-and-a-half years. He must be crazy.

Dear Abby:
I was married to Bill for three months and I didn't know he drank until one night he came home sober.

Dear Abby:
My mother is mean and short-tempered. I think she is going through her mental pause.

Dear Abby:
You told some woman whose husband had lost all interest in sex to send him to a doctor. Well, my husband lost all interest in sex years ago and he is a doctor.

AWE Up for Blog Award

A Writer's Edge has been nominated in Michael Stelzner's 4th annual 10 Top Blogs for Writers Contest. If you would like to vote for AWE as a 2009 Top 10 Blogs for Writers, please nominate it at http://bit.ly/8NF7E in a comment at end (scroll down). The AWE URL is www.writers-edge.info/Blog.html You'll have to think up something nice to say about the blog, too, or just echo what Paula Berinstein of The Writing Show said in her nomination:

Eeek, how can I choose between Michelle Rafter and Georganna Hancock? Okay, this year I'll nominate Georganna's A Writer's Edge at http://www.writers-edge.info/Blog.html. Next year it will be Michelle.

I never get tired of reading Georganna. She always seems to come up with new angles on issues of interest to writers, and she's a hoot besides. Full of personality, but not that awful snarkiness you find so often these days. A truly original thinker.

Nominating is apparently the same as voting. Stelzner's instructions:

How to Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog:

1. Reply to this message with your nomination (bottom of list)
2. You have only one vote (only your first will be counted)
3. Please include the web address of the blog (http://www.writers-edge.info/Blog.html)
   
4. Explain why you think the blog is worthy of winning this year’s award?

To make the cut, a blog must be nominated more than once.

Nominations must be received by September 11, 2009.

Twitter Flitter Glitter

I've been experimenting with Twitter lately, my most recent foray into Web 2.0 for a writing/editing business. "Twitter", the word, always makes me think of "flitter" which reminds me of the lovely Blog Fairy. No more does she flitter about the blogosphere, sprinkling her inimitable form of glitter on happy bloggers here and there. She is sadly missed.

In any event, if this works, here's a sample of what's going on in the Twitter-World of GLHancock:

And if that didn't work, you can find me at Twitter.

Divine Game

"In this divine game of hide-and-seek,
stop pretending there is any place to hide..."
g g g

A great note for all, it will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking... Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end... They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be bro adened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths, only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As20soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you." Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happin ess when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can'tbuy. "Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present." The origin of this letter is unknown, but it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.. Do not keep this letter. Just forward it to your friends to whom you wish blessings.

some of my fav mus

Falling Down

I want to be with you any where but here…

time needs change; its all around,

we all fall down- down- down.

Around- around we all fall down… get up and change.

Wounds

"Our wounds are the marks of initiation.

Our wounds become our wisdom.

Our wounds mark our way."

g g g

Send for Inspiration

A sign up form for Inspiration, a series of weekly one-minute motivational messages for writers is active in the top right web page header at A Writer's Edge.

The first message you'll receive is a welcome (also inspirational). This week's note is about holding on to your dreams of being a published writer. I'm reaching out to touch you! Anticipate a gentle kick in your writing pants and a pat on the shoulder.

If you want to subscribe without visiting the website, Flare me through Feedburner (that's what they call emailing the author) or fire up your own email service, key in "BRBSUB" in the subject line, and send the missive to: editor[AT]writers-edge.info or to the usual Gmail address for this blog (Writers.Edge).

Loving Her Was Easier

Kris Kristofferson - Loving Her Was Easier (Official Music Video) - Free videos are just a click away

Entrecard

Entrecard have changed their system. It now also involves money.

I am thinking that this is not right for a multi-author community blog like this one, so I am proposing that we drop this feature.

All co-authors, if you agree or disagree, please leave a comment.

I am adding the Entrecard-info below:

"Greetings Entrecarders!

Today I have VERY important news for the entire Entrecard community. In approximately one week, we will be co-launching an Ad Network and a Credit Cashout Service. What this means, immediately to you, is the following:

A real ad network
We will be opening as much as 50% of our ad impressions network-wide to third party advertisers. We will be accepting cash payments to run 125x125 advertisements through our widget network. Ads will be sold as run of network, or targeted by category, for a low CPM rate to be announced. Please plan your daily entrecard ad purchasing accordingly. Whereas before, when you purchased an ad, you were buying a minimum of 100% of the impressions, you are now buying a minimum of 50%. However, the maximum is still 100% of the impressions, because if we have no ads booked for that category, or for the network, for any given day, you will still get all of the impressions.

Exchange your credits for CASH
With the money we make selling as much as 50% of our network impressions, we will purchase your credits from you, and delete them from the system. This means we're going to let you sell credits for cash, right from your dashboard! This has been the single most requested feature since we launched Entrecard. Members have clamored for a way to sell Entrecard credits for cash, but the same problem always arose: where does the money come from to let people sell their credits? How do we use our greatest resource (millions of daily impressions across ~60 niches) to benefit everyone? After much deliberation, the answer became clear. We must open up our ad network, and funnel the proceeds of the entire operation back to you, the members!

The state of the economy
The state of the world's economy is grim. We are in a global recession. People need simple ways to make money now more than ever before. Therefore, it became our imperative to turn Entrecard into a viable way for bloggers to make money. We think we've figured out a great way to do this. By allowing you to cash out your credits, and allowing you to earn credits by selling products and services in our market, advertising on your blog, publishing on your blog, and dropping cards, we're making big moves to help you earn a second income.

In parallel, the Entrecard economy has been in a state of inflation since day one. Every day, more credits are created than are deleted. As of writing this, there are 44 million credits in the Entrecard economy, and we're adding more each day. This is not sustainable, and so it has become clear that we need a more efficient way than advertising taxes to eliminate credits from the economy. The good news is that if this works, we'll be able to lower the advertising tax.

So, by paying you cash for your credits, and then wiping them from the system, we estimate that we can delete as many as 1 to 2 million credits per day. This will immediately shift the economy into DEFLATION, which means your credits will become MORE valuable, instead of less valuable, both in their purchasing power and in their monetary value.

Finally, Entrecard has needed a solid revenue model since day one. We are excited to have settled on a viable revenue model that allows us to make money at the same time as passing on the majority of our revenues back to you. For any given day, we will take 75% of our revenues and pass them on to you by way of cashing out your credits. We will take the remaining 25% for ourselves to grow the business as a solid revenue source.

What if I don't want these ads on my site?
We have always prided ourselves in being a service that offers you complete control over what does and does not appear on your site. Yet, at the same time, we're forced to mitigate this ideal with our decision to launch a more traditional ad network, as a way to make you money, restore the economy to balance, and make some money for ourselves.

We will continue to allow you to reject any ad you wish. However, to reject ads from paying advertisers, you will need to pay a credit fee for each ad you wish to reject. We don't know how much this will be just yet.

New Above-the-fold rule
If this is going to work for everyone, we must also mandate an above-the-fold rule. Thus moving forward, it is necessary for all Entrecard members place their widget above the fold to maintain an active account. The rule won't go into effect until we launch our ad network, which is about a week away, so please plan accordingly and make the necessary changes as soon as possible.

To recap
You can boil this down to the following 4 bullet points:

In a week, we're launching an ad network where anyone can advertise through Entrecard widgets for CPM rates. This can be run of network advertising, or targeted by category. We are making available 50% of our inventory, or approximately 40 million monthly impressions.
With the money we make, we are going to buy credits back from you. You will be allowed to sell credits via your dashboard, and we will devote 75% of daily sales to buying credits back.
The economy will no longer be in a state of inflation, but rather in deflation which means your credits will gradually start becoming more valuable.
For all this to work, we must institute an above-the-fold rule, which goes into effect in a weeks.
We realize these are pretty huge changes, and there are going to be a lot of questions. This is part of the reason we're announcing this a week early, so we can field all the questions, address everyone's concerns, and all get on the same page."

Green & Gold for Writing

A Writer's Edge Wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happiness

Universal Anomalies

Did you know the moon has been moving steadily away from us, currently about3.8 centimetres per year?

I found this to be quite interesting, as in a million years, there will not be any more total lunar eclipses of the sun. What does this mean to you? Nothing. Think about this though, we are currently in the one period of time in Earth's history that the moon appears exactly the same size as the sun, even though the sun is hundreds of times larger. (whew ... long sentence!)
Did you know that as the sun grows older, it will also expand into RED Giant and become large enough to engulf the Earth? Yes, this also means nothing to you, but it could mean something to the auto industry after the next 5000 bail-outs.
Lets say it is not 2009, but 12 million seven. No longer will they have the new 09 models, they will have the 00000000000007 models with sunpaint protection, as mandated by the world government. They will no longer have moon roofs either. That will be to far away for any consumer appeal.
This got me to thinking about space time anomalies. If my 0000000000007 car with no moonroof and sunpaint protection is traveling at the speed of light, will my blackberry still be able to load a blog for me to read and comment? ... and at that speed, should I really be texting and driving anyway? I guess it's a good thing I have a 1989 Chevy with a moon roof that has a top speed of 77 mph. Here I was all in a blah blah blah mood, when the universe is perfect for me!!

SPEEDCAT HOLLYDALE

A Parents Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my sanity to keep.
For if some peace I do not find,
I'm pretty sure I'll lose my mind.
I pray I find a little quiet
Far from the daily family riot

May I lie back--not have to think
about what they're stuffing down the sink,
or who they're with, or where they're at
and what they're doing to the cat.
I pray for time all to myself
(did something just fall off a shelf?)

To cuddle in my nice, soft bed
(Oh no, another goldfish--dead!)
Some silent moments for goodness sake
(Did I just hear a window break?)
And that I need not cook or clean--
(well heck, I've got the right to dream)

Yes now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my wits about me keep,
But as I look around I know--
I must have lost them long ago!

~Author Unknown~

Birds paintings

Hello BR Bloggers! This week i want to share my recent watercolor paintings. These are based on my own photos during my recent trip to KL Birds Park. If you're planning to visit Malaysia, don't forget to visit the park; there are so many beautiful birds there!

Lorikeet

Peacock

Hope you enjoy my drawings!

Much love;
Emila

A Valentine from A Writer's Edge

Select service, contact me and mention the 2009 Valentine gift, and you will receive a 14% discount on any services listed on the Editing Services page. Now offering resume critiques and assistance, consultations by email and phone. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

A Week End Quote

"No man or woman is worth your tears,

and the one who is,

won't make you cry."

g g g

Happy 2009!

Happy 2009, everybody! So sorry for being MIA, I am back with the intention to post on weekly basis; of course mostly my post will be my drawings and illustrations. Or maybe some photography.

For my first post of 2009 in BRB's blog, I would like to post my video of my Moleskine Sketchbook which has been completed by the end of 2008. Hope you enjoy watching it:





Much love
emila!

Happy New Year 2009

From A Writer's Edge and Hancock Websites