The life of an author...

I don’t think there much commonality between the everyday lives of authors, not any more so than the lives of doctors or lawyers. Except for the fact that we wear pyjamas a lot and are usually awake and working after midnight and spend a lot of time worrying about our mental health, and such.
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FATAL ERROR on Amazon

But here’s how my day has panned out so far. You can see if it compares at all to yours.

I spend several hours creating and scheduling promotional tweets for the busy upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales that the Americans love. Since I have four books to promote and two twitter accounts to fill, that took a long time. I saved all the tweets I created because I intend to reuse them for next year’s post-U.S. Thanksgiving sales-arama.

I spent a few minutes re-watching my first-ever appearance on YouTube MY THANKSGIVING and responding to comments about the video clip. My friends and fans were generally complimentary about my rudimentary acting skills. My family? Not so much. I keep checking the YouTube “views” counter. At 92 views by mid-morning, I’ve come to concede that it’s not likely to go viral.

 

Every hour or so I check my Amazon sales ranking on all four books and check for new reviews. Today, my sales rankings are all slightly better than yesterday and there are no new reviews. Maybe this afternoon.

It’s past noon and I’m still in my pj’s for two legitimate reasons. The first being I’m not feeling well and the second being I keep longingly looking out the window at the freshly fallen snow thinking I want to go for a cross-country ski before I shower and get dressed.

I have open on my computer, the press release I’m working on. My daughter is on the other end of my cyberline using her PR expertise to help me—between diaper changes, feedings, naps, and scoldings.  I want to announce to the local media the release of FATAL ERROR, my upcoming author presentation at the library, and my scheduled presentation at the Alternate Education Centre.

Also open is my middle grade novel that my beta readers are pestering me to get published.  I spend yesterday researching possible homes for RAINBOW, and now want to do one final read-through/edit before preparing the submission.

I will have to do up several different pitches/cover letters/ resumes/ etc. to go along with the manuscript to ensure I meet each publishers’ differing submission guidelines. Only one publisher on my list of possibilities accepts e-submissions. This means I will have to do a lot of printing and packaging and spending-of-dollars-on-postage as well.

 

My Christmas cards are calling to me to get addressed so this morning I confirmed that I have printer labels—wouldn’t want to have to go back to hand-addressing them. I also need to draft up my annual Christmas message to include in the cards. I will remember to mention I was gifted two brand new granddaughters in 2012, released a new book, and am grieving the loss two family matriarchs. I will likely cry when I write that letter, somewhat like what is happening as I write this.

I will post this to my blog and then go for a ski. I need the fresh air and excerise, and the solitude and peace of a snow-bound forest.

Eileen Schuh, Author
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
www.eileenschuh.com

What's the buzz? SPACEHIVE...

Kenna McKinnon, introduces us to Jason, the young protagonist of her debut novel SPACEHIVE.

SPACEHIVE: Free today (Dec 26, 27, 28 2012) on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/SpaceHive-ebook/dp/B008SYCHFG

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Christmas is coming! Have you thought of a gift of a thrilling sic-fi novel with a message that will appeal to young adults and teens as well as parents?

Introducing Jason Anderson from SPACEHIVE:

Jason Anderson is a red-headed 12-year-old boy with a big heart and a keen mind.Jason likes music, science and his neighbor's dog Freedom. His father is a biochemist.His mother is a stay-at-home librarian who wears Betty Boop aprons.

A baby brother is born in an underground bunker while Jason and his Indian friend Aadab Ali join forces on the plains of India to defeat the dreadful alien General Vard and his Wasps.

 Jason becomes a teen while held prisoner in the alien ship SpaceHive. The music stored on his Personal Audio Device (PAD) incites the alien Bees to revolt against the General and the Black Watch. Jason likes new instruments like the ZitherCom and he loves to play Guitar Mozart. His mother's choice of Brahms Symphony No. 3, though, is the deciding factor which calms the Apian Way.

Jason's friendship with three worker Bees arises from the strains of Poco Allegretto and not the Three Black Skulls of Jason's generation.

Jason's long red hair, green eyes, young age, and slim stature make him less than a heroic figure to Aadab Ali, who at first is delighted to find an "American" freedom fighter with "reinforcements" who will help win the Battle of India. Aadab soon finds out that Jason is alone and frightened, captive in the SpaceHive with only a ZipPAD, music, and his father's potions to overcome General Vard and the Wasps.

Aadab also finds out the difference between Canadians and Americans! No doubt about it, Jason Anderson and his family are proudly Canadian.

SPACEHIVE is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/SpaceHive-ebook/dp/B008SYCHFG

Kenna McKinnon is a freelance writer who lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The YA/MG sci-fi book SPACEHIVE is her debut novel. Please visit her online at:

http://kennamckinnon.blogspot.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/KennaMcKinnonAuthor

http://www.twitter.com/KennaMcKinnon

Eileen Schuh, Author
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
www.eileenschuh.com

Let’s hear it for the eyes....

I love the cover for THE TRAZ!  I believe it is the girl’s eyes that draw one into the picture.

 

In the story, Katrina’s icy, clear, brilliant, deep blue eyes are mentioned often. In fact, everyone’s eyes are mentioned—Shrug’s slate grey eyes, Chad’s liquid dark eyes, Stack’s black eyes.  Eye contact and body language play a large part in THE TRAZ—highly reflective of what happens during street-level communication.

 

 Clever members of criminal gangs seldom say what they really mean—motives are concealed, business is conducted in coded language, and exotic words and phrases known only to members bind the gang together. 

 

Those who possess secrets, knowledge, and information are those who become powerful.

 

Available on Amazon

To survive in a gang one must at the very least be able to interpret emotions expressed in basic body language. To advance in a gang, to attain a position of power, one must be able to both conceal one’s emotions and thoughts and see through the facades of others.

Katrina, as young as she is, is fairly adept at reading body language and rapidly hones that skill as she struggles to stay safe amidst the danger.

Learning to read others is a life-enhancing skill for all of us. Being able to tell if someone is joking or serious, sad or angry, focused or distracted is vital in both personal and work place relationships.

Not until we leave behind the self-centred thinking of childhood does our awareness of others become keen enough to read body language.  THE TRAZ may be a teen reader’s first exposure to the concept that much can be said without the use of words. 

It’s my hope that by the end of the book, my young readers will have lost a bit of the egocentricity of childhood and begun to develop the socially important ability to both ‘speak’ and understand body language.

 
Eileen Schuh, Author
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
Web site: http://www.eileenschuh.com
Blog: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

Who's to blame?

Click to purchase

Guilt, blame, forgiveness, taking responsibility—it’s all woven into the underlying theme of my new release FATAL ERROR.

This second book in the BackTracker series takes a look at how the characters deal with the social, emotional, and legal aftermath of their horrific year together with The Traz biker gang.

"So who's fault is it now, Sergeant Kindle? Who's to blame?" Katrina asks herself at one point.

Sergeant Kindle, the man who oversaw the police operation and now must oversee the healing, feels compelled to defend his officers. “It wasn't Shrug who murdered Lukas. That brutality wasn't his.”

Although he defends his men, Kindle knows that if Shrug refuses to accept responsibility, he won't begin healing. “Guilt is the downside of accepting blame,” he tells Shrug. “Being able to do something about what went wrong is the upside." His words do not sink in, though. Month's later he's after Shrug again. "So that's where you at?” he says. “You've given up blaming the girl and into blaming me?"

Perhaps because she's so young, with so few coping skills and a life bereft of a support system, Katrina has the hardest time dealing with what went down.

“If you hadn’t....” a character tells her as she slogs through her debilitating feelings of guilt and blame. Yes, way back when...if she hadn’t. One error in judgement and someone died. “If I hadn’t...” she thinks to herself. “If only I hadn’t...”

I address this question of guilt and blame in the discussion guide for FATAL ERROR (available here as a pdf downloadable file ).

Here’s an excerpt from that guide:

Katrina was very young and grieving the loss of her parents and grandparents when she took up life on the street.  Kindle wants her to accept at least some of the blame for what happened to her in The Traz biker compound.  He believes she will not be able to recover from the trauma until she does.  However, Shrug thinks forcing her to accept responsibility for what she did will make her even more emotionally unstable. 

 Questions:

• How responsible are we for what happens in our lives?
• At what age should we start taking the credit or blame for the results of our decisions and behaviours?
• If we don’t learn to accept responsibility, are we at risk of feeling helpless and victimized? 

Sometimes victims of abuse wrongly think the abuse is their fault.  

Questions:

• How do we know if we should take responsibility for bad things in our lives?
• Is taking responsibility for things the same as accepting blame for them?
• Can we accept responsibility and blame without being overcome by guilt, as Sergeant Kindle seems to do?
• Can we make our lives better even if we don’t accept the blame for the bad things that have happened to us?
• Shrug, Syd, Chad, and Sergeant Kindle all admitted responsibility, at least partially, for their roles in Katrina ending up in The Traz biker compound. Katrina and Rusty are reluctant to believe anything was their fault.
  Question:
  
  • In FATAL ERROR, it appears that those accepting blame are able to move past the experience easier. Is that realistic?
  -----------------------------
  
  
  Do these questions even have answers? My characters struggle to uncover the truth.
  "Damn it, Sarge.” Shrug said. “Don't screw me up more. I had myself convinced I'd f*** you around."
  
  "You did. But I let you. So, where does the blame lie? With me?”
  At one point, Shrug mutters, "There are many reasons things happen."
  
  
  Katrina is keenly aware of the blame Shrug lays on her. "There are many reasons things happen,” she fights back.“And they don't all come back to me. I'm not the master cause of the universe."
  So, where does the blame lie? In Katrina’s one fatal error? In Shrug’s invitation to the girl to join him in the gang? In Kindle, who overlooked the fact Shrug had involved a child?
  Does the blame rest way back when before any of it happened...when those who could’ve got her off the street, didn’t? Or back to the drunk driver that killed her parents, and left her grieving and without guidance? Back to the child abuser who turned that driver into an alcoholic? Back... back.

So many in our prisons are themselves victims of violence. Many suffer head injuries that have disabled their judgement and inhibited their control over thinking and behaviour. Others are living with similar disabilities arising from their time way back in the womb when, despite the wee bodies and brains forming inside them, their mothers drank or used drugs.

A violent society, violent homelife. Injuries imposed by others . Addictions.

And then there are those who for their own sad reasons make a living from such human weaknesses.

So, now, Sergeant Kindle, who’s to blame?

If only....

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FATAL ERROR on Amazon.com


FREE! Nov 10, 11 2012

FATAL ERROR eBook in the UK
FATAL ERROR paperback in the UK
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 Eileen Schuh, Author 

FATAL ERROR   

Schrödinger's Cat 

THE TRAZ

www.eileenschuh.com

Who do you call when you're down & out?

THE TRAZ includes a list of resources for at-risk kids and the adults in their lives. Here's an excerpt from that list:

RESOURCES

Kids Help Line (Canada): counselling and information for young people needing help

1-800-668-6868

http://kidshelpphone.ca

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ON SALE! 
Only 99cents/£0.77 

 
The Traz School Edition
on Amazon.com

THE TRAZ School Edition
 in the UK
 _________________

Alcoholics Anonymous: Support & information for those touched by addictions

http://www.aa.org

Quitnet quit-smoking advice, forums, information

http://alberta.quitnet.com

RCMP Reports Research and Publications: information on gangs, drugs, and other illicit activities http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/index-eng.htm

Suicide Prevention:

Canada (information & resources for young people and the adults in their lives) http://www.youthsuicide.ca

Canada (Centre for Suicide Prevention)

http://www.suicideinfo.ca

Scotland (Choose Life)

http://www.chooselife.net

Australia (LIFE)

http://www.livingisforeveryone.com.au

United States (Suicide Prevention Resource Center)

http://www.sprc.org

New Zealand (SPINZ)

http://www.spinz.org.nz

England (Centre for Suicide Research)

http://cebmh.warne.ox.ac.uk/csr

Norway (Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention)

http://www.med.uio.no/ipsy/ssff/english/index_english.html

Ireland (NOSP)

http://www.nosp.ie

Eileen Schuh, Author

FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

A ghost story...

Jessie B Tyson is celebrating the release of her debut novel, WHITE HEAVEN WOMEN.

“Horror, suspense, paranormal..." the reviewers say.

Today, as my guest blogger, Tyson offers us an inside peek at both this intriguing novel and it's flamboyant author.

I'll bet you can't resist downloading it...after all it's

 

 FREE for two days only: 

29th and 30th October 2012

☆‿↗⁀↘‿ WHITE   HEAVEN WOMEN ‿↗⁀↘☆

A gripping tale set in Whitehaven Northern England   

Many people believe that we have all been here on earth before, with a different name, different life. Some live their current lives believing they’ll be reincarnated after death. This past life theme is prevalent in movies, television ad novels, including the new supernatural suspense White Heaven Women by British author Jessie B. Tyson.

White Heaven Women is a gripping tale set in Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK. Flashing between 1899/early 1900s to 2000, readers are introduced to two sisters, Beth and Sarah, and the fate that awaits them.

White Heaven Women is a gripping tale set in Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK. Flashing between 1899/early 1900s to 2000, readers are introduced to two sisters, Beth and Sarah, and the fate that awaits them.

***

In the year 1899, in Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK, Lady Constance Witherspoon, only 14 years of age, gives birth to twin girls during a tumultuous storm. Lady Elisa (Beth) is born with a diagnosis of demonic possession, while her twin, Lady Sarah, is crushed and killed when the ceiling collapses in the storm.

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"... haunted by relentless nightmares about demons and a baby crushed at birth..."

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In the year 2000, Sally Witherspane returns home to Whitehaven and is haunted by relentless nightmares about demons and a baby crushed at birth. 

To discover the meaning of these dreams, she seeks the help of the local psychic, who instructs Sally to attend a past life meeting. It is there that Sally meets Beth Witherspoon.

Persuaded by a ghostly blue apparition, Sally documents a family history filled with deception, abuse and an ancient evil, and she must summon strength and faith to become the woman she is destined to be, one of the last descendants of the White Heaven Women.

Published by Imajin Books in Edmonton, AB, Canada, White Heaven Women is now available in Kindle edition and paperback at Amazon and CreateSpace.

WHITE HEAVEN WOMEN  ON Amazon.com 

WHITE HEAVEN WOMEN IN THE UK 

WHITE HEAVEN WOMEN ON CREATESPACE

“A novel of hope and of the multiple chances that re-incarnation provides the soul in search of enlightenment.” —Shane Joseph, author of ‘The Ulysses Man’

“Tyson paints a literary landscape of bygone days so skillfully the main characters leap off the pages into our hearts.” —Betty Dravis, best-selling co-author of ‘Six-Pack of Blood’

“A fast paced book with vivid characters…a great book to get lost in on a rainy day.” —Dionne Lister, author of ‘Shadows of the Realm’

“Horror, suspense, paranormal, life, death, love and hate all woven together with such powerfulness, so real, so fragile yet gripping enough to keep you on the edge.” —Peggy Grigowski, author of ‘A Glimpse of What If’

“One of the best books I have read in a very long time. Jessie has the talent to reach deep inside the reader and allows the reader to open up their minds to a world that is not easy to understand or believe. “—Shirley Lessard – Book reader

Jessie B Tyson was born at Scalegill Place near Moor Row - a tiny village between the coast and the mountains in N.W. Cumbria England but lives in British Columbia, Canada.  In what year? She's a senior and will not divulge that - ladies prerogative but she will be collecting a pension in a few years (grin.) She was educated in her natal area and moved to Canada in the year 2000. Jessie wrote children's and fantasy stories as a teenager. When she matured she moved on to writing adult stories. She has a great imagination and enjoys turning her vision-like dreams into enjoyable tales. Jessie considers herself as a Spiritual Christian who believes in the Power of God - but that doesn't stop her writing paranormal fiction with ghosts and demons!  Jessie has a wonderful sense of humour, and loves to laugh and tease her friends. She has a generous spirit and will help anyone in need. She has an affinity with animals, especially dogs, cats, horses and dolphins. Jessie abhors all forms of cruelty to any living breathing creature. White Heaven Women is her debut novel.

Jessie invites you to visit her online:

facebook:

twitter:

Blog:   

Click the video below and listen to her true story about blue ghosts....

Eileen Schuh, Canadian writer
www.eileenschuh.com

NEW RELEASE!

 FATAL ERROR 

“Wise, haunting, deeply moving…unforgettable!” 

Four lives intertwined by fate may lead to one fatal error…

When the police chopper rescues her from The Traz biker compound, fourteen-year-old Katrina thinks she’s escaping her brutal past. But she soon discovers that the cops know her darkest secrets, and she slides into an emotional hell of horror and guilt.

Shrug, the undercover officer who recruited her to the gang, struggles to undo the harm he has inflicted, but his attempts to protect Katrina spiral out of control. His boss, Sergeant Kindle, knows nothing can be forgotten and much must be forgiven before Katrina or Shrug will be free from the aftermath of the police sting.

Complicating matters, Katrina's dream relationship with another undercover officer, Chad, hits a major firewall when she discovers he's engaged. Just one fatal error could send Katrina, and everyone else involved, down a path of destruction that could leave no survivors.

FATAL ERROR on Amazon.com
FATAL ERROR in the UK
FATAL ERROR in paperback