You’ve Got to Make the Clay

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her latest release, 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round, novelist Jami Attenberg, shares her advice and that of over 50 other writers.

Here’s an inspiring essay from Hannah Tinti:

When I was younger, I did pottery. Before I learned how to throw on the wheel, or fire a kiln, or even how to press a pinch pot, my teacher showed us how to make clay. There was a huge barrel of slip in the studio, a trash can filled with water, where everyone would throw their mistakes. Any failed creation (that hadn’t been baked yet) would be recycled back into the mud, and the first step to making new clay was to grab a heavy shovel and start tossing these old mistakes in the giant mixer. Every once in a while, we’d open the lid and check the consistency. If the clay was too dry, we’d throw in another shovel of failure.

This is how I’ve come to think of first drafts. Before you can make a priceless vase or a heartfelt novel, you’ve got to make the clay. And you better put on some overalls, because you’re going to get covered with muck. The good news is, you can recycle some of your old ideas. In fact, using the slurry of previous work ages your clay (like fine wine in an oak barrel), making it stronger and more flexible, which greatly increases the chances that your next creations won’t end up in the slip bucket. So think of your 1000 words today as raw material. It doesn’t have to look like anything yet. But one day you’ll come back to it and spin it into something beautiful.

Source: 1000 Words, p. 157

Spotlight on The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Australian author and film-maker Gregory Pakis. Today, Gregory shares his new release, The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night.

Blurb

Hookers and hawkers.
Mosques and mosquitos.
Paul has had enough of Southeast Asia.
He’s only here ‘cos it’s cheap.
He’s on the run from police after leaving Australia.
No, that place wasn’t much better either.
Well, it was when he was young.
When his life was full of promise. An up-and-coming boxer. And he had friends. And fun.
Then a bit of bad luck later and he found himself on the run in outback Australia. Paranoid. Hiding from shadows. The heat. The dust. The sweat.

Next stop, Southeast Asia.

Excerpt

Cigarette in mouth, Paul stood on the hotel balcony and stared nervously out into the hot Cambodian night. He hated Asia. He didn’t know why so many loved it. Of course deep down he knew – cheap holidays. But to Paul, Asia was hell – hot, dangerous and always just a bit of bad luck away from some sort of disaster.

Not much could be seen from his balcony. His hotel was down a small street off the main road that led to the tourist centre of Siem Riep. He could see people drifting down the main road, mostly tourists clutching dollar beers. Directly across from him was the construction site of a new hotel.

Paul took another drag from his cigarette, grabbed his beer off the balcony railing and walked back into the hotel room. He looked at his boots next to his duffel bag. He was sick of those stinky boots. He looked at the grime on the duffel bag. That grime was from India. Indian grime was unique. Black. Oily. Nowhere else that he had been in Asia left that kind of grime. It came mostly off the train floors. As he stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, he remembered what his feet looked like in thongs at the end of those long train trips – black.

Author Bio and Links

Gregory Pakis is an Australian author, film-maker, actor and wacky vlogger.

He has written the short story, The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night; the soon to be released horror-suspense novellas, The Regressor and He., and Memoir of a Suburban Hoe-Bo, which is partly an account of when he lived out of a van for ten years in Melbourne.

Gregory Pakis is also the writer / director of the feature films, The Garth Method (2005) and The Joe Manifesto (2013), which have won national and international awards and been distributed through Accent Entertainment, Label, Vanguard Cinema.

Gregory’s more informal video projects are the feature documentaries, Garth Goes Hitch-Hiking (2007) and Garth Lives in a Van (2011) which have screened at film festivals in Australia.

More recently, he has created the comedy series, suBURPieS and his Wacky Vlog which can found on his socials.

Gregory has been featured in articles in newspapers, The Age, The Herald Sun, Beat Magazine, Inpress, FILMINK, and the Neos Kosmos. He has been interviewed on radio by the ABC, 3RRR, SYN FM, 3CR.

Amazon Sales Link | Book Trailer | Author Chat to Camera Video | Web Page | Books Site | Films Site | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | X | Email

Giveaway

The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Gregory on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.

#LASR Anniversary Party 2024

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Like books? No matter the genre, we have a great place for you to find your next favorite read!

Long and Short Reviews is celebrating their 17th (wow!) anniversary, but you get the gifts. They’re featuring more than 50 books in all genres from romance to science fiction, young adult to poetry… no matter your reading preferences, you can find something to enjoy!

What could possibly be better than that? 

How about a chance to win one of two $100 Amazon GCs, of course! Think of how many books you could buy… 

Once you’re arrived at the Long and Short Reviews site, simply read through the book posts each day and answer a simple question (or follow authors on their social media accounts) and you’re entered to win. New chances to enter every day!

So, go visit and enter and don’t forget to tell a friend or two. Good luck!

Contest runs from August 19-23, 2024.

Book Blast: Dishing Love Daily

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome chef and author Susanne Clark. Today, Susanne shares her collection of cherished recipes, Dishing Love Daily.

Blurb

Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients (trademarked in Canada and the US) is more than a cookbook. Chef Suzy shares her collection of cherished recipes that focus on healthy, fresh, easy-to-find ingredients, appealing to both the novice and experienced cook. She will also guide you to and through a revolutionary, adaptable approach to bringing mindfulness and positivity into the kitchen. It’s a timely, relevant and original concept in food craft that weaves our energetic imprint into a meal and into the hearts of those who sit at our table. It’s a powerful, creative concept in awareness that will transform the everyday endeavour of nourishing our bodies into a life-changing act of nourishing our souls. Come on, let’s get dishing!

Excerpt

Welcome to Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients. It won’t take you long to realize that this book full of recipes is more than a cookbook. It’s a new, revolutionary, approach of bringing mindfulness and positivity into the kitchen. It’s a philosophy of incorporating a daily habit of awareness into the art of cooking.

Every morning, I intentionally choose a motivating, uplifting word and then spend the day infusing its fortifying and nourishing energy into everything I do, especially the meals I prepare for the people I love. One word. I think about this word. I talk about this word. I try and emulate the meaning of this word. Some days the word has a strong, clear connection to the recipe and the meal I’m preparing. On other days, the link is more subtle and implied. Words like, “authentic,” “choice,” “thankful,” “potential,” “kindness.” I’ve used a “secret ingredient” in every recipe of the cookbook and I’ve felt the healing energy of each heart-held word. There’s a fullness and a deepness in this practice that transcends the kitchen. Dishing Love Daily affirms the mantra, “What I think, I become” and I have become an expert at living life through this powerful lens of intention. The kitchen is where I feel centred and connected to my purpose: to share my vision of food as an expression of love and a foundation for nurturing and healing our most important relationships. It’s timely, relevant and impactful.

Author Bio and Links

Susanne Clark, a.k.a. Chef Suzy, earned her Red Seal in Culinary Arts in 2009 at SAIT in Calgary, Canada, apprenticing at Hotel Arts under the talented supervision of Duncan Ly and Karine Moulin. Upon graduation, Chef Suzy established Magnifique Cuisine, a successful catering business in the Calgary area. She also worked full time as the in-house executive chef for one of Canada’s original Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs, W. Brett Wilson, cooking for his Home Office team and a global circle of business and community leaders, artists and celebrities.

Suzy’s first and continuing career as a mother of four empowered and vibrant daughters formed her vision of food as an expression of love and a foundation for healing and sustaining our most important relationships. Suzy loves to travel and seeks out every opportunity to enjoy culinary experiences around the world. She has been married to the love of her life, Richard, for 36 years.

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Giveaway

The author will award a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Susanne on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Suzanne Clark brings a unique approach to this cookbook, which is more than just a collection of recipes. It’s a journey of mindfulness and positivity in the kitchen. Each recipe starts with a secret ingredient, a motivating and uplifting word the sets the tone. A short reflection follows. One of my favorites: “Abundance. It’s an attitude of contentment. It’s a place of inner peace. It’s quiet gratitude. It’s an awake-ness of our enough-ness.”

Well-organized and easy to follow, Dishing Love Daily is a treasure trove of diverse and tempting recipes, each waiting to be discovered. I’m eager to try the flavorful Cioppino, the refreshing Zippy Orange Crunch Salad, the exotic Thai Coconut Tilapia, and the indulgent Nutella Mousse.

Blurb Blitz: Death Secrets

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author January Bain. Today, January shares here new release, Death Secrets.

Blurb

A gripping thriller that explores the lengths one will go to for family, and the resilience needed to stand against the darkness.

In the shadow of Alaska’s towering peaks, Anna Hale is haunted by a past painted in flames and betrayal. Marked by the tragic death of her mother and the scars of a childhood marred by violence, Anna has fought tirelessly to build a semblance of normalcy, only to have it shattered again and again. The latest blow comes when her sister, Tia Pace, vanishes without a trace, reigniting old wounds and casting Anna into a nightmare where she’s the prime suspect.

As she grapples with her stepfather’s execution and the weight of suspicion, another crisis looms: Zoe Pace, her other sister, has disappeared in an eerily similar manner. The only clue a sinister black rose and a chilling letter. When her brother Josh, now a dedicated cop in the Anchor Police Department, begs for her assistance, Anna is pulled back into the fray. Despite the agony of reopening old wounds, she embarks on a desperate quest to unravel the mystery of her sisters’ disappearances.

Faced with the unforgiving Alaskan frontier, Anna must confront a tangled web of corruption and deceit, with a copycat killer moving in the shadows. With every tick of the clock, Anna’s hope for a normal life slips further away, but her resolve to find her sisters and bring them home burns fiercer than ever. Will Anna’s journey through the cold, dark paths of Alaska lead her to her sisters, or will she find herself lost in the depths of a conspiracy that threatens to consume everything she holds dear?

Dive into this chilling tale of loss, courage, and the relentless pursuit of justice against the backdrop of Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness. Order your copy now.

Excerpt

Anna hammered her stepfather with another right hook, ignoring the pain that ripped through her shoulder, sweat dripping in her eyes. She didn’t see the beat-up old punching bag swaying and jerking before her, but the face of a killer. Nineteen years, six months, and twenty-four days she’d been waiting for the appeal process to end, for justice to be served. She hit the bag again so hard on the backswing that her knuckles cracked wide open, payment for her being too impatient to bother with gloves. Damn it. Now there was blood dripping on the garage floor. After grabbing a rag from the dustbin, she wound it around her hand.

The door to the adjoining house opened and Tia stepped out onto the cement. Anna waited for her to speak, her breathing ragged and harsh.

“I packed a bag. I’m going with you,” Tia said, her stance defiant, her blue eyes flashing with meaning, her normally loose blonde hair up in a tight bun. Her go-to hairdo when she meant business.

Not this again. Unease coiled in her stomach.

A bang on the garage door alerted her to other company. Bad timing. But when had her life ever been anything but bad timing? She ignored the inopportune knock, needing to have her say first.

“You can unpack right now. I told you. I need to do this alone.” She braced herself for any objection. This was her burden to bear. Alone. She wouldn’t let that monster take anything more from anyone she loved.

Author Bio and Links

January Bain is an award-winning author who firmly believes that stories unite us, that good stories help us to discover the commonality of the human experience by supporting values, empathy and understanding. She writes with her heart, mind, and soul, hoping that her novels will touch your life, giving you moments of freedom as you fly with her to other worlds.

Bain has had the pleasure of select novels being turned into games, and her work is also available in different languages.

January and her husband live in rural Canada on peaceful acreage where a variety of wildlife comes to visit regularly and expect to be fed and paid attention to.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | TikTok

Giveaway

January Bain will be awarding a limited edition print of a wolf family to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow January on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Beyond the Clutter

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In the Summer 2024 edition of Oprah Daily, professional organizer Julie Morgenstern shared hard-won wisdom about clutter. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Being organized is all about being ready. Ready for the phone to ring with a spur-of-the-moment invitation. Ready for an emergency should a crisis erupt. Ready to pursue your passions.

Organizing is the process by which we create environments and schedules that enable us to live, work, and relax exactly as we want. It is a liberating process—an empowering, nurturing, exhilarating journey. And it’s not about getting rid of things. Organizing from the inside out is a drive toward truth. It’s about discovering the truth of who you are and what is important to you. Organizing is not the destination; it is the gateway to achieving your higher goals.

To assess your current level of organization, ask yourself:

Can I find what I need when I need it?

Does my environment allow me to express my whole self?

Am I surrounded only by things I use and love?

Is my day filled with the activities that are most important to me?

If you answered yes to all these questions, relax. You’re doing fine. But if you answered no, the next question is, Are you ready for change?

Surprisingly, the truth lies not in the quantity of piles or in how long you’ve been disorganized. Breakthrough occurs when you suddenly see something on the other side of the clutter that you desperately, vividly want.

So let me give you an assignment. Ask yourself what is on the other side of your clutter? What do you hope to gain? Is it clear? Is it compelling? Are you ready to embrace it? Because the skills it takes to get organized are simple. Beyond the clutter, I promise you’ll find the space and the time to fulfill your dreams.

Blurb Blitz: Pirate’s Promise

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Bobbi Smith. Today, Bobbi shares her new release, Pirate’s Promise.

Blurb

Tall and strikingly handsome, Adam Trent could tempt any woman, especially in his secret disguise as the swashbuckling Captain Spectre. But when this daring buccaneer wagers a seductive campaign against a beauty whose passion matches his own, he’s not prepared for what awaits him…

WINNING HER HOME WAS EASY…

Throwing a young woman out of her home is hardly decent behavior—even for a pirate. But when Adam Trent wins the Ducharme plantation in a card game, he knows it’s the perfect base for a covert scheme of revenge in which he sails the bayous as Captain Spectre. Adam agrees to let Lianne Ducharme stay until she comes of age—a decision he soon regrets. For Lianne fascinates him, and Adam cannot afford the distraction…

WINNING HER LOVE COULD COST HIM EVERYTHING

Too bad that the most virile man Lianne Ducharme has ever met is also the most infuriating. With no choice but to stay at Belle Arbor as his ‘guest’, Lianne gradually yields to her own desires. But there is far more to Adam than Lianne knows. And succumbing to a pirate’s promise of bliss could be the surest path to heartbreak…

Excerpt

Adam determinedly immersed himself in plantation business. He gave strict orders that he was not to be interrupted. He continued his work on the ledgers until his eyes grew tired, and when he checked the time, he was pleased to find it was near midnight.

Only then, when he was too exhausted to continue, did he allow his thoughts to dwell on his real reason for staying locked in the study for so long. Lianne… Adam’s gaze drifted to the loveseat where they’d lain together in a passionate embrace the night before, and he felt the heat rise in his body again in remembrance. In frustration, he wondered what it would take to make him immune to her. Here he was, bone-weary and worn out, and yet just the thought of having her filled him with desire.

Adam shook his head in confusion. She’d made it clear the night before how she felt about him. He knew the best thing to do was to avoid her. Out of sight, out of mind – he hoped.

Adam fought down the need to go to his marriage bed. Instead, he sought out the barren comfort of the loveseat for his night’s rest. It seemed an eternity to him before dawn lightened the eastern sky. He rose from his broken sleep, eager to leave the house before Lianne awoke.

Adam tread softly upstairs to their bedroom to get the clothing he needed. He entered the room quietly and was glad to find Lianne was asleep. He gathered what he needed and made an effort not to look at her, but when his gaze fell upon her, he froze. His breathing grew ragged as he took in her gentle beauty. He almost reached out to touch her, but stopped in time, silently cursing himself. He backed from the room and a short while later he left the house. He didn’t know how much longer he could remain in such close quarters with Lianne and keep from making love to her. Resolved to working out his restlessness through hard physical labor, Adam rode out to the fields, intending to spend the entire day there.

Author Bio and Links

After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi Smith gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982. Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and several short stories. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists. When she's not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer's groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and three dogs.

Website | Goodreads | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Bobbi Smith will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here

Follow Bobbi on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here