Meet Author Helena Harper
Helena Harper grew up in England, the daughter of a British father and a German mother. From an early age she loved to read and write, particularly fantasy stories, and later she enjoyed studying foreign languages.
Helena is a private tutor and translator. She continues write children’s stories, and illustrations for her first children’s picture book are now being done.
For new readers, what can they expect when they read your books? I hope they will find something to make them smile or cry or think. I hope they will be able to take something positive from what they’ve read.
What would you like your readers to know about you and your writing? My poetry books have been drawn from my professional and personal life, but my children’s stories are pure fantasy. The latter give me a wonderful chance to escape so-called ‘reality’.
What writer most inspires you – why? As far as fiction is concerned, I very much admire Jane Austen’s style of writing, it’s so clever, subtle and amusing, and she’s a wonderful storyteller. But there are non-fiction authors whom I also find inspirational, such as Neale Donald Walsch and Michael Talbot.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer? What was the first story or article you remember writing? I’ve always loved writing. Even before I went to school and could write, I sat at a desk and wrote line after squiggly line on blank sheets of paper. The first story I remember writing was a story about pots and pans and other kitchen appliances who were having a competition to see who could be the cleanest. I really enjoyed writing that story.
You have a degree in modern languages and are a qualified teacher. Has this helped your writing? And if so, in what way? Yes, definitely. My language studies have helped me appreciate the sound, rhythm and meaning of words and my teaching has taught me a great deal about what makes people tick.
What is your writing process like? Do you write every day? I fit my writing round my other commitments and write whenever I have the opportunity to write, which could be any time of the day or night.
What is your most precious memory? My most precious memory? That’s really difficult – I have so many. Any of the memories I have of my father, perhaps, who is no longer alive. He was a truly remarkable person.
What is your most embarrassing memory? When I was at primary school, holding onto a door handle to prevent my friends from coming into the classroom (this was a game we were playing during the lunch break), only to find out that it wasn’t any of my friends who were wanting to come into the classroom, but a teacher!
If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing with your life? Well, I still teach languages and give private tuition. If I weren’t doing that? Hard to say – something where I could be creative and that would be stimulating and challenging.
Is there anything else you’d like to add? Yes – if you want to write, just give it a go! You have to be willing to step into the unknown, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know and you may end up regretting that. All you need is an idea. It doesn’t have to be fully developed, just sit down and start writing something and it will develop as you go along. You never know, it may be the best thing you ever do!
Contact details/more info.
Email: webmaster@helenaharper.com
My author’s website: http://www.helenaharper.com
My authorsden website: http://www.authorsden.com/helenaharper
My blog: http://helenaharpersblog.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/helenaharper
Helena’s Books
‘It’s a Teacher’s Life…! A Collection of Poems Set in a Girls’ Private School’
No doubt you remember your life at school as a pupil – the long lessons, stringent rules and chaotic classrooms – but what was it like from the teacher’s perspective? Did they savour the experience of setting and marking our homework? Did they get a kick out of writing our reports? And, most intriguingly, what did they get up to in the staffroom?
If you’ve never been there yourself, you need to follow Helena Harper into this alternative world of coffee addiction, frantic marking, lesson-planning and inspections. She answers all of your questions and more, and her insightful, evocative and often sardonic descriptions leave you more appreciative of the trials and tribulations (and the occasional pleasures) of being the dragon in front of the whiteboard.
Available in paperback from all major online retailers. Can be ordered through any bookstore. Stocked by Haslemere Bookshop and Weybridge Books in the UK.
http://www.amazon.ca/Teachers-Collection-Poems-Private-School/dp/1847481825/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239391752&sr=8-2
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Its-a-Teachers-Life-a-Collection-of-Poems-Set-in-a-Girls-Private-School/Helena-Harper/e/9781847481825/?itm=1
Family and More is a poignant poetic memoir, in which the author examines the lives of family members and other people, who have touched her own life and taught her some valuable lessons. As the daughter of a German mother and English father, who were on opposite sides during the Second World War, Helena Harper’s poetic themes are informed by notions of national and emotional boundaries, the horrors of war, self-discovery, love, and the infinite power of the human spirit.
Available at present as an ebook from:
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/Familyandmore.html
Due to be published as a paperback by Pen Press Publishers in the first half of 2010.
Meet Janet Ann Collins, author of The Peril of the Sinister Scientist.
I’d like to introduce author Janet Ann Collins. Janet Ann Collins is the author of two fiction books for children. The Peril of the Sinister Scientist is about a middle school boy who thinks he was cloned from the blood on the Shroud of Turin because a scientist who had worked on that experiment is stalking him. Secret Service Saint is a picture book about Nicholas, who discovers the fun of doing secret good deeds and eventually becomes known as Santa Claus.
Collins is a retired teacher, enjoys public speaking and often teaches workshops at conferences. With her husband she raised three deaf foster sons with special needs in addition to their birth daughter, and has one grandson. They live in the beautiful Sierra foothills of Northern California.
Can you tell us something about The Peril of the Sinister Scientist?
The Peril of the Sinister Scientist by Janet Ann Collins is a tweener, or middle grade, novel about a boy who thinks he was cloned from the blood on the Shroud of Turin because a scientist who had worked on that experiment is stalking him. It is available to local bookstores and on many online sites, including Amazon where it can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/yge7uke The U.S. price is $7.95.
What is going on with your writing these days?
I have a book for young readers and I’m working on several things, including a middle grade fantasy about a girl who can communicate with animals by thought language. She and her Deaf brother travel to a foreign land trying to find and rescue their kidnapped mother. I’m also spending lots of time learning how to do marketing and publicity for my published books, write a column for the Antique Auction Explorer, sometimes write articles for other periodicals, and have two blogs, http://onwordsblog.blogspot.com and //janetanncollins.blogspot.com.
What are your future goals for your writing?
I’d like to have more books published as well as more articles in periodicals.
Can you describe a typical writing day for you?
I reserve two days a week for writing and squeeze some in on other days if possible. After I check my e-mail I work on my current project for several hours. Often I’ll do the laundry the same day so when the drier buzzes I can get up and move around for a few minutes, then get back to work. If I’m on a roll I may write more in the afternoon. Otherwise I use that time for plotting, planning, sending out submissions, and working on publicity for my books.
Do you have any pets? If so, introduce us to them.
We have a poodle/Bichon mix named Suds. My grandson says she must also be part Teddy Bear because she loves to snuggle. We got her in the Fall of 2009 from an animal recue group and aren’t sure how old she is. Suds is smart and good at understanding our gestures and facial expressions and at communicating with us. For instance, sometimes she puts her paw on my shoe if she wants to be taken for a walk.
What is your most precious memory?
My grandmother, who died when I was just over two years old. I’ll never forget her beautiful white hair, soft face, and eyes that looked at me with completely unconditional love.
What is your most embarrassing memory?
The time I got locked out of the house and tried to crawl in through the dog door. I got stuck and when I finally managed to reach a broomstick, unhook the latch, and squeeze back out I turned around to see the people at the bus stop across the street laughing at me. Of course I was wearing bright red slacks so they got quite a view of my rear end.
If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing with your life?
Since I’m officially retired I could just sit around and read, but, much as I love books, that would get old fast. I’d probably do some part time teaching and maybe get involved in a drama group in addition to the volunteering I already do. But it’s hard to imagine a life without writing.
Where can readers find you?
On my blogs or on my website,
You can also check out my page on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Janet-Ann-Collins/e/B002LFHNFC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1266608108&sr=1-2-ent
Article and E-book Reprint Strategy By Karen Cioffi
Article and E-book Reprint Strategy
By Karen Cioffi
While it seems most writers don’t allow their articles/posts to be reprinted by others, I have come across a couple of writers/marketers who generously do allow this practice. They allow their posts to be reprinted by other writers to be used on their blogs or in their FREE newsletter. Obviously, anything being offered to reprint should never be reprinted in something you are selling, such as an e-book or report.
I’m surprised that more writers don’t take advantage of this reprint strategy. The benefits seem obvious – let’s look at four of them.
Four Benefits of Allowing Reprints
1.You have written something that someone else views as valuable.
2.You increase your visibility.
3.You increase traffic back to your site.
4.You never know who will see that article/post or where it will end up.
What About Giving Your E-books Away?
I have also seen this reprint practice utilized with e-books, and it peaked my interest. These informational e-books plainly state, in the beginning of the content, that readers may freely pass it along. This technique generates additional visibility and is a great promotional tool and marketing opportunity.
In fact, I recently started taking advantage of this practice with one of my e-books. All the writer needs to do is request permission to offer my e-book as a freebie on their site.
Yes, at present I require permission, but that may change as I begin to write more e-books.
Word of Caution Here
Please remember, it’s essential, when taking advantage of a writer’s reprint offer, to always keep the article or e-book intact. Be sure to use the author’s byline and any other text and links that they have as part of the bargain. It’s a win-win situation: the author increases his visibility and you get an article to use on your blog or in your newsletter, or you get a free e-book to offer on your site.
Drawback to Using Reprints or Offering Them
Obviously, there are a couple of circumstances in which offering or using reprints isn’t advisable, such as: you wrote the article specifically for a magazine or ezine and publishing elsewhere is restricted, or you may not want to use an article with a byline that will send your reader to a site that offers the same services you do (a competitor’s site). But, all-in-all, this is a practical marketing plan.
Why not utilize this practice. It will be a supplemental tool to be used along with your ezine article marketing. These two strategies combined will certainly generate and increase visibility and traffic back to your site.
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Karen is the co-author of Day’s End Lullaby, a children’s bedtime picture book that includes the sheet music to the original lullaby. Check out a great video review at: http://daysendlullaby.blogspot.com
Day’s End Lullaby:
http://www.amazon.com/Days-End-Lullaby-Karen-Cioffi/dp/1419691570/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1220900352&sr=11-1
Karen’s e-books:
The Self-Publisher’s Guide
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/the-self-publishers-guide-2nd-edition/7893477
From Writing Your Book, to Self-Publishing Options, to Creating a Website, to Promotion – it’s all included in this handy guide. Topics include: learning to write, critique groups, being ready for publishing, choosing a publishing company, creating visibility through promotional strategies, bringing traffic to your site, resources, tools, and much more.
Writing, Publishing, and Marketing – You Can Do It!
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/writing-publishing-and-marketing—you-can-do-it-2nd-edition/8218845
What are the steps needed to write a book, find a publisher, and market that book effectively?
Writing, Publishing, and Marketing – You Can Do It! answers that question. It provides a step-by-step guide to help you over the hurdles. You might say it’s a GPS system to help get writers where they want to be – published and selling books.
For more information on writing and marketing visit Karen and Robyn Writing for Children (http://karenandrobyn.blogspot.com). And, for a wide range of writing services, stop by DKV Writing 4 U (http://dkvwriting4u.com).
Both sites offer a FREE e-book about writing and marketing along with a free monthly newsletter.
Good News about my book
My chapter book, “The Angry Little Boy,” is going to be published by 4RV publishing. Here’s a link to their website:
http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com/
. I’m thrilled!! It’s my first book. I only started writing fiction in 2006, after I hooked up with Linda Barnett Johnson at the first Muse online writing conference.
Here’s a link to Linda’s website:
www.lindabarnett-johnson.com/
And here’s one to the Muse Online Conference. Do sign up for the 2010 conference, to take place in October. It’s fabulous, it’s online, and it’s free.
www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/
At the time I had no intention of ever writing fiction, but Linda’s policy was that you joined both the fiction and poetry forums or you joined neither. And so I started writing fiction.
The first version of this story was about 5000 words and I wrote it in a weekend. The present version is just over 11,000 and is probably the third major revision.
Meet Author Elysabeth Elderling
Meet Elysabeth Elderling, the author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad series. The first two books in the series are available from a href=”http://4rvpublishingllc.com” target=”_new”>4RV Publishing. They are “State of Wilderness” and “State of Quarries.”
How did you get started writing this series?
I wrote a story, “Train of Clues,” that won a shared second place win in a contest in 2005. I wanted to expand the story into a series, with a clue for each state, and consulted with an editor with SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). She sent me some great advice. After receiving her advice and the directions she suggested I could go, I started doing research to find info that could be used for the “clues.” I found some clues on the Educational World ® website and then I found a website, quite by accident, that had some trivia type of information for landmarks in every state. I gathered my information and let the idea brew, trying to figure out the best format for the series, that the reader’s wouldn’t get tired of and that would really be what I wanted from the series.
What gave you the idea to make the stories like a game where you guess the state?
It was an accidental finding. I had thought of writing the stories for a 5-minute mystery site and I played around with different ideas. I originally was going to do the series like a journal, where the kids would be in a year-round school and would have to keep track on a weekly basis of all in the info given to them to figure out which state was being described. When I saw a posting asking for submissions for the 5-Minute Mystery, I thought maybe my stories would work out for that. I tried to make it as the state being the character and giving each state a personality to give the trivia info to the kids, but that didn’t work. I tried making it like a game host asking the questions – kind of a Jeopardy!® type game, but that wasn’t turning out the way I wanted. And, then the produces of the 5-Minute Mystery site wanted the stories to be more “geographical” in the story and I was having to either give up story or plot or characters or something and so we weren’t meeting in the middle.
I understand you’re writing a teacher’s guide to go with your books. Can you tell us something about that?
Yes, I am writing the teacher’s guide as I finish the book. I had wanted to have varying puzzles in the books for the readers to have some fun after reading, so I kept that idea. I had never written a teacher’s guide nor really seen anything. The closest thing I could come up with was the Weekly Reader’s teacher guide given to me from one of the teachers who is a band parent. The research/discussion questions expand out a few of the more interesting clues in the book. I’m trying to have a science experiment in each guide or maybe I’ll switch to some math related problems in some that are related to a clue, and then to wrap it up, I have some end-of-book questions (multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and T/F). The bibliography will be in both the books and the teacher’s guides so all readers will benefit from the plethora of information I have gathered for further reading or papers or whatever the need is.
Where can readers purchase your book?
Check out http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com to orders copies of the book. Books are also available through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com as well but you can order directly from me and get signed copies. Direct contact can be made via email – eeldering@gmail.com.
VBT – Writers on the Move ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
It’s so exciting!
Next month, VBT – Writers on the Move is having its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
To celebrate this accomplishment, we are having a STUPENDOUS Blogaversary Tour!
Daily postings and daily prizes! But, that’s not all, we’re still having our Mystery Site Giveaway: the Anniversary PRIZE is a $25 (US) GIFT CARD.
Visit the VBT – Writers on the Move blogsite for all the details.
http://vbt-writerso nthemove. blogspot. com
When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them ..
.. actually, I’m not inclined to give the one of my favorite books.
The Annotated Alice is probably my all-time favorite book — but it’s not everyone’s taste.
What I’m inclined to give them is a book of Far Side cartoons — I just love the whacky humor.
Books I hated in High School
Today’s topic is I hated … when I had to read it in high school, but when I read it on my own later, I loved it because….
This is a tough one because I try to forget about the books I hate — it’s hard enough remembering all the books I liked.
So I’m going to try here for books I didn’t absolutely love..
Wind in the Willows — so sue me. I found it boring. I reread it later and did like it better, but I still don’t love it. Still, in high school I abandoned it part way through and as an adult I did manage to finish it, which is something, anyway.
Susie Wong — I read this at age 12 or so, at a point where I thought ’slept with’ meant you shared a bed for the night. I was just too darn young. I reread this later and loved it — the story had me hooked on the second go round. I was in my twenties.
My parents didn’t censor my reading as a kid — they just let me read what I liked. I guess they figured, rightly, that if it were unsuitable, it would just go right over my head. Too, too true.
Anna Karenina — it was required reading. Didn’t hate it, just couldn’t follow all the names. I reread it later, after I’d taken two years of Russian in college, and it made much more sense, because I could follow it.
I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in…
what classic book?
Actually, I can’t think of one. This is, I fear, less a testament to the uniqueness of my life than to the weakness of my memory. Here are some I’ve disqualified:
The Secret Garden: Never was orphaned
Alice in Wonderland: Did plenty of daydreaming, but never fell down a rabbit hole
Peter Pan: Believed in Tinker Bell at one point, but never learned to fly
Farmer in the Sky: Never went to Ganymede. Heck, never left Earth at all.
Ballet Shoes: Never orphaned, never went to a stage school. I do have a sister, but just one. That’s enough IMO.
Theater Shoes: Never orphaned, never went to a stage school, never got a scholarship. Have a sister but no brother. I do have male cousins, though. Oh, yes, and I did discover previously unknown family at the age of eight or so.
Well, so far Theater Shoes is the closest, due to the family thing. My father, it turns out, was the youngest of six, but until we were six and eight we never knew. It turns out Dad had been seeing his siblings regularly — he just never bothered to tell the rest of us about them. It turns out I had five cousins on my father’s side I hadn’t previously known about, as well as three Aunts and two Uncles. Let’s hear it for family.
Tuesday: Favorite Childhood Books
If you read yesterday’s post, you already know some of my childhood favorites and the reasons I liked them. But here’s another: when I was in fourth grade, my absolute favorite book was the Landmark biography, “Life of Saint Patrick.” As my family is Jewish, this was something I knew nothing about, and I was fascinated. I read the book at least seven times over the course of that year. The history was just so interesting. Too bad I didn’t find my social studies courses in school nearly as compelling. As I told my kids, I was paying attention on Math and English, and some of the time in Science, but not in social studies, so if they had history questions on their homework, then needed to ask someone else.
