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Caleo & Dome – both free on Amazon today
Feb 5th
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Every High School has their social outcasts. The band nerds, the math geeks, the chess club, the girl that chews her hair, but at Butler High, even the creepy nose picker in the chess club is more popular than Caleo Anima. No matter what he did, his pale skin, snow white hair, and piercing blue eyes always made him an easy target. He used to think that the only way things could get worse would be if someone found out that he was gay, but that isn’t even the tip of the iceberg of problems after a mysterious stranger shows up and changes Caleo’s life forever.
Hidden amongst our society, a secret and magical race of people known as ‘Leeches’, have been engaging in civil war for decades. Both sides are desperately searching for a weapon with unlimited power that will give them the advantage they need to rule their world. This wouldn’t mean anything to Caleo, except for one problem…He is that weapon!
Forget making it through High School. Caleo has bigger problems! As the search for him goes on, the world is quickly crumbling around him. He’s now fighting for his life and the life of what little family he has left. With the help of new friends, he has little time to try and master his newly found powers as he tries to figure out who he can trust, who is trying to use him, and who just wants him dead. One wrong step and being the awkward pale outcast will be the least of his worries.
Click here to claim your free copy on Amazon today only!
What if you knew the exact date and time the world will end, what would you do?Sam Tucker was faced with that dilemma when he began getting visions of the Earth’s demise. Luckily for him, he was able to save his family and as many people as he could before the tragic event occurred, and he did so with the help of unknown visitors. With Earth now destroyed, Sam, his family, and thousands of other lucky survivors must live the rest of their lives on a faraway planet in a Dome that simulates life on Earth. But Sam’s mind can’t seem to rest as a few questions arise. Why did the aliens save them? How did they know about Earth’s sure fate? And exactly what are they hiding?
Emma Tucker begged for an escape from her boring life but never in a million years did she think it would come at the destruction of Earth. Living on a new planet and finding it difficult to get rid of her rebellious habits, Emma finds herself making friends with a member of the alien race and it soon develops into an unexplainable love; a love that is more dangerous than she could ever imagine. While her father is searching for his own truths, she has no idea that she is stumbling on a truth of her own.
Told from the point of view of both Sam and Emma, author Nova Sparks takes readers on a journey to discover love, fate, faith, truth, and the mystery of the DOME!
Click here to claim your Free copy on Amazon today only!
Event Organized by
Ever wish you could change the world with your art?
Participate in the #twitterartexhibit and do just that. No entry fee, and all proceeds go to the special needs classes at The Center for Contemporary Dance.
Submission deadline is February 21, 2014.
Twitter Art Exhibit
Let’s do each other a solid.
I work really hard to promote the work of writers and artists. I also try to help them learn how to do these things for themselves. Why? I suppose it’s my way of giving back to the creative community. It makes me feel good and I don’t expect anything in return. However, I have had a few people ask how they could repay me. Answer: you can help me promote my platform. In fact, now that I think about it, that would be really terrific!
If you’d like to link to my website on your blog or site, use the logo below and link to this address.
Drop me a line and let me know so I can check it out. If your stuff fits in with my site, I’ll reciprocate by adding you to my list of recommended sites.
Alter ego, you so crazy.
I recently had a creative writing revelation. I realized that my notion of being a writer was strongly linked with accurately expressing myself. I’ve been writing fiction, but at the same time I’ve been wrestling with a burdensome responsibility to somehow use that fiction to put my truth on paper. What audacity and hubris! My truth isn’t necessarily important or enlightening, except maybe to me. And what a terrible way to approach creative writing. Memoir, sure. But, creative writing?
I’m not even sure where this idea came from and I wasn’t aware of being a slave to it until this past week. It is betrayer to my creative life.
As you may know, we’re currently in the throes of annual NaNoWriMo craziness, which requires truckloads of creativity. I sat at my computer laboring over my novel, honestly intending and trying to be creative, when the lightning bolt hit. I’m my own worst enemy. I travel the same well-worn ruts over and over again, trapped by my own experiences and perspective.
An insidious voice, quieter than a whisper, is constantly censoring and evaluating my thoughts. I’m changing that today. There is freedom is releasing myself from these constraints, but for me the execution is difficult. I am me, after all, and it’s hard to get away from that.
So I’ve come up with a strategy.
Today, instead of trying to express myself, I’m going to do the exact opposite. I’m going to imagine myself as someone else – an alter ego, of sorts – and write that way. Unencumbered. The concept seems simple, but for me it’s ground breaking. This other broad can be as wild and weird as she wants to be.
Wish me luck!
The gorgeous art in this post is courtesy of, Stephanie Corfee, Featured Artist at Ink & Alchemy. It’s teeming with life and riotous color and it makes me very happy. The perfect art to spur creativity!
Visit my website to learn about my efforts to smear art & lit all over the planet. You can also find resources to use in your creative life and business.
Words are important.
This week, I was inspired by Niki Hare‘s work. She’s a new, wonderful addition to the artistic lineup over at Ink & Alchemy. Her work is scattered throughout this post; click on any image to transport to her website. This is what Niki said about this series, titled Talking To Myself Again:
Niki: “I’m struggling for words about the “word” paintings, I guess they should speak for themselves.They are just a form of writing on the wall, a way of being very honest and exposing my thoughts, but always with the option to write over. The directness matters, it is me unprocessed, there is nothing planned, the words just appear and I just paint them as they come out. They are not careful, carefulness becomes a frustration, it dilutes things.But the words are also paintings, they have layers and history and the feeling of decaying graffiti found on a wall. Maybe I am a poet with no language except that of paint and these paintings have become a way to speak. The work is very personal, but that makes it richer. I have found a freedom in being able to say exactly what I want, the words may be buried, but they are still there underneath, they have been said.”
I featured one of her pieces, Unclear (below), earlier in the week after she graciously accepted my invitation to become a Featured Artist. The painting wouldn’t let loose of me. I found myself thinking of it often, sketching words in the margins of agendas at work during meetings. I wanted to try this loose, free way of painting with words. I often incorporate words into my painting, but thus far, they have been freehand, so the idea of using stencils was interesting. Adding words to my art is cathartic, like writing in a journal, which I never seem to find time to do. When my works are finished, most of the words have been obliterated and covered over, which is actually a very satisfying part of the process for me.
Also, I absolutely adore graffiti and this technique has echoes of that. I love it so much, that I once had a brilliant idea to put some graffiti in our home, which ended with my husband scrawling a message i red paint across the dining room wall where it remained for a year and a half. It’s gone now, replaced by an art gallery, but remains there still, under the plaster and paint and I like that idea very much. I love that layering words is so much like how life works. Things change. Slowly a thin veneer is laid over the old, but those things are still lurking under the surface, threatening to appear from time to time. Bits and pieces poking out when least expected.
I’m not trying to replicate Niki’s work (and I couldn’t if I tried), but I wanted to use it as a jumping off place, and so I did. I became so fixated, that when I looked up again, it was heading towards midnight on a worknight (gasp!) and I was covered in black paint and so was my studio.
Words are important, and this point has been driven home to me several times this week, most notably during a situation in which I didn’t use my words very effectively and led straight into a very unpleasant argument. Still smarting from that one. Words feature heavily in my life. I write. I seek and struggle on a daily basis to find the right words. My day job requires that I effectively communicate with people all day long. Relationships demand constant give and take.I’m resolving this week to do my best to use words in ways that support my goals and enrich my life.
- “That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.” – Arundhati Roy
- “Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.” – Rumi
- “We live and breathe words.” – Cassandra Clare
- “I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”– Rudyard Kipling
Below are some images I snapped as I worked on throwing some words onto wood. It will be interesting to see where this process takes me. Right now, as with any of my paintings, the important thing is to get something on the substrate, create for myself a foundation and a place from which to start, and that is what you see here.
Now, as these base coats dry, I will go attempt to write some words that don’t suck. To that end, I have recently began to read Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer. Funnily enough based on the subject of this post, words won’t do this book justice. You need to hold it in your hands and slowly flip through the pages to fully appreciate it. It’s subtitled The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, and the book is so densely packed with ideas and inspiration that it’s difficult for me to read more that a page or two at a time, because I feel compelled to stop reading and start scribbling on the nearest piece of paper, be it napkin, receipt, or index card. I mentioned that it was illustrated and this aspect is wonderful to me. It’s a smorgasbord of art. You’ll have to check it out yourself to see what I mean. This is perfect timing for me to work through this book, because guess what time it is? If you shouted NaNoWriMo, you are correct! It’s almost time – join me!
As always, you are encouraged to visit my website, which will point you to my entire social media platform. I’ve also got free resources for you. If it’s daily doses of inspiration you seek, hit me up on FB – Ink & Alchemy for art or More Ink for writing and social media stuff.
Wishing you peace, paint, & publishing, Robin
Saint Monolith by Tom Reinhart
You can read this ebook FREE right now! Click the book below.
In the United States, a violent crime occurs every 26 seconds. Police officers take an oath to protect and to serve, but the laws they uphold bind their own hands. Justice is blind, so evil perseveres. Mason Stone is a decorated war hero, and a respected S.W.A.T. Commander. He’s also an unhinged lunatic and a psychopathic vigilante. He believes society has evolved, but humans have not. He is a demon to some, a saint to others, and a savior to all. One man’s struggle to cleanse the world, is also one woman’s struggle to save him from himself.
A thriller. A love story. A lesson for us all about the human condition.
Robin Reynolds 