It’s Alive!

August 2018 Blog

It’s Alive!

 “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku, Volume Two: The Write Life” has been published and is available on Amazon. I am very happy and very proud of this book. I hope it will inspire writers to write, and help them realize that all writers go through ups and downs in pursuit of their craft. I also hope thry realize that persistence pays off in the long run.

It has taken me too long to get this done, but now I can pursue my other projects. Black Oak’s sequel only requires editing and it will be ready to publish. Then I can concentrate full time on my third Haiku collection “Global Warning” while also finishing the first draft of my Sam Rock sequel.

 “Global Warning”, I feel is an important undertaking in the current atmosphere where science, once again, is not taken seriously enough. I state here and now that I believe global warming (or climate change – for those who believe snow means global warming isn’t real) is real and serious and is currently affecting the quality of life all over the world.

I have lived nigh unto seventy-five years, and I have noticed the trend – not just the cycles (which are real) but the trend toward greater warmth, more violent storms and greater cold is real.

I also “tweet” with followers from all over the world and they are telling me the same. They are more miserable than they have ever been and for a longer period of time.

Although there have always been disasters, we now have instances of multiple and varied disasters on a daily basis and they are occurring globally. Note: here I am referring to “natural disasters”, not the man-made terrorist events that are also escalating. They will be the focus of another book.

I do not intend to debate global warming of climate change in this blog. That is for people with (hopefully) more intelligence than I have to do and (hopefully) come to an agreement on how best to keep us on this side of the tipping point – that point which we cannot recover, no matter what we do.

I do, however, intend that my Haiku chapbook “Global Warning” be enough (or heartfelt enough) to change some minds or at least strengthen the convictions of the minds that do agree with me.

I am also considering donating a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the book to further the cause. I am searching for a group to support to the extent my sales permit.

I’m not worried about the Earth dying in what’s left of my lifetime or my children’s or even my grandchildren’s. I am worried about our quality of life in the meantime. I am more miserable this summer than I have ever been before, and I can’t chalk it all up to age. I have seen the weather maps. I have seen the forecasts reporting temperatures above 100 F in places it has never been before and for many more days than usual in places it’s more common.

   Obviously, I feel strongly about this matter. Most especially, I feel it is not being taken seriously by enough people and certainly not by the people with the power to do anything about it.

So I will offer my words in hopes of fostering change as poets have done for centuries. The following, an extended Haiku, “Wet Sheets” was written over a several day period starting with a night during which I got very little sleep. It continued as more and more examples of weather related excesses continued the nightmare. In its entirety it will be the keynote of the collection.

I will also continue work on my novels, although I find it difficult this summer to write outside in my usual spot. Writing inside just is not as much fun and the distractions are far greater than taking time to watch the occasional bird at the feeder or a squirrel build its nest. I never knew they built nests in trees, but they do. I hope we can keep this world safe for them. They have no idea we are destroying the Earth out from under them. Guess I should write a Haiku about that too.

By next month, I intend to have the Black Oak sequel edited and well on its way to publishing. Also to have most of the Haiku gathered for “Global Warning”. Both will be a good month’s work.

Until that time, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

I’m also including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

August features my YA novel, “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”, still available from Amazon. It’s a coming of age story in a very dysfunctional family and society and an attempt at making things better. https://tinyurl.com/y96zzp9u

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is, of course, my new “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku, Volume Two: The Write Life” also available from Amazon. https://tinyurl.com/ycqtq3mt

Momentary Madness

July 2018 Blog

Momentary Madness

I am not above being human. As a writer, I always celebrate another writer’s success. Sometimes, I have a momentary bout of greenness more commonly known as jealousy. It serves no one, and I get over it quickly. I would not begrudge anyone their deserved success.

Only Human: A Haiku

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

Green not becoming,

I’ll toast my fellow author

With the sweetest wine.

While watching “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Friday, June 29th, I momentarily turned green with envy.

There Jimmy was – announcing the winning book for the Tonight Show’s first ever summer reading club. #TonightShowSummerReads

It sounds like a great book, and I’m anxious to read it. It’s titled “Children of Blood and  Bone”  by a very young, new author, Tomi  Adeyemi, published by Macmillan.

The book is sure to hit the top of every bestseller list. I was elated for the book and the author. Then that little green man popped up on my shoulder (not a space alien – they are gray), and for just a moment, I matched his hue.

I was green with envy. Then I started the whole woe-is-me ritual: I will never, ever reach that pinnacle. She is so lucky. I wish I had her luck. I wish that was me. No matter how I struggle, that will never, ever be me.

I was about to ruin a good night’s sleep that was sorely needed. I wanted to finish formatting my new Haiku chapbook the next day so I can keep my publication target date of July 15^th.

Thinking about my own plans changed my thinking. Okay, she’s really lucky. I’m sure she’s also talented to be published by McMillan. I (and all the other #FalPals) will enjoy reading her book this summer along with Jimmy.

A smile crossed my face. (Okay, it didn’t, but it sounds good) I did get to thinking.  I’ve done the best I could with what I had. Now I know better, I can do better. (Thanks, Oprah!)

I am a published author, and nobody can take that away from me.  So I haven’t gotten the breaks and now I’m too old to go the traditional publishing route. (I could die in the two years it takes to get a book out.) But – I am published, (repeating myself here) and with a little more and better promotion, I’m sure I can become more widely known. I have no reason to covet someone else’s fame and fortune. (Well maybe J.K. Rowling, but I’m sure the Queen would even like some of that.)

I know I am but a minor poet and an even more minor novelist. I also know I’m the product of an age where women didn’t “do” and weren’t expected to.

Things are so different now. You can grab hold of a dream (even at a young age) and make it come true. You don’t have to “wait your turn”, “wait for the kids to grow up” or (the old classic) “pay your dues” before you can pursue your passion, expect to succeed or gain any sort of recognition.

Now you can do it all with the internet and the click of a mouse or your fingers and a smart phone. (Mine isn’t that smart.) And you can hold your head up high among the traditionalists. Self-publishing (now called Indie Publishing) is an acceptable route and the product does have a chance out there to vie for wide readership.

I’m still sticking to my publishing schedule for “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: The Write Life.” It will still go live on July 15^th. Also, the sequel to “Black Oak” will go live by August 31^st.  So, I’m busy and happy. In my spare time, I will read “Children of Blood and Bone” and clean house.

I would like to take a moment to say “Congratulations!” to Tomi Adeyemi on her very first novel and on it being selected as the first ever official #TonightShowSummerReads selection. I promise I will join my fellow #FalPals and Jimmy Fallon in reading it.

I promise I will also keep writing and publishing as long as I can. It is something I must do as the characters in my mind are wanting their release and I owe them that.

I will also continue to encourage others to write and follow their dreams as well. Creative writing cannot die. There must always be someone out there to take up the torch and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). Literacy must not die. We must write and we must read. We must also teach our children to read and to love reading as we do. Only in this way can we retain (or regain) the best of  our humanity.

On the Macular Degeneration front – it’s a slow progressing condition. I will never regain the clarity I have already lost, but I will probably die from my heart condition before I go blind. (I consider that a blessing.)

So here’s to a summer of reading and writing and publishing. It’s all to the good. Enjoy!

Until that time, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

I’m also including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month I am featuring Tomi Adeyemi’s “Children of Blood and Bone” available on Amazon. In fact, I’ve heard it’s their #1 Best Seller at the moment. Also you can join the #FalPals and Jimmy Fallon for the summer: #TonightShowSummerReads

Stardust

June 2018 Blog

The following poem in free verse form was started sometime after January 24, 2012. I have no recollection of starting it. It is now finished and will be part of an upcoming poetry chapbook entitled “Metamorph”.

Singularity (Free Verse)

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

I will write as I will write

And dream against a dream

Until such time as I shall sleep –

Silent,

Ashes drifting on the solar wind.

From birth to death –

My life between but spotted –

Ink and tears mingled, inseparable;

My oh so faint scribbling yet

Unerasable,

indelible.

Whether I am noted or a footnote

Or but a shadow in someone’s fading memory,

My thoughts will join the stars

To burst among the fiery suns

Or find space bent

And fall

Into the blackness of the void.

     Regardless of what I do or do not accomplish in this lifetime, I will rejoin  the Universe as stardust. To me, that is a comforting thought. Whether or not I rejoin the human race is of no consequence.  I will have returned to whence I came.

     There is little to report this month on any front. I have begun formatting my next Haiku chapbook, “The Write Life”. This one is for writers or readers who want to understand writers. I plan it to be inspirational, motivational and commiseratory in tone. I go through what every writer goes through, I’m sure. Perhaps I can encourage or even just amuse (or bemuse) others.

 It will be followed hard upon by the one I’m planning on climate change entitled “Global Warning”. That should be out midsummer, when it will be hotter than the depths of Hades and stormier than a Martian…

Climate change deniers are moving us closer to Doomsday than all the saber rattling in the world. I would hope to change some minds with this one.

My novels are stalled. There’s another death in the “Sam Rock” sequel. Everyone is rushing to see the body, but I don’t know who’s dead or who the killer is. I’m my own cliffhanger. Think I’ll jump in feet-first after I get this posted.

The “Black Oak” sequel is still screaming “final edit” before formatting. It contains even more amazing deaths perpetrated by my eclectic band of shapeshifters.  Best get at that, too, before they invade my dreams.

On the home front, my “retina specialist” says if I take my A REDS 2 supplement, wear sunglasses outside, use extra light and magnification, and see him every six months, I should die before my eyes give out. Okay, he said I should be able to see for the next ten years. (if with some difficulty).  I personally don’t plan on living that long, but it would be nice.

In the meantime, the computer screen is getting harder and harder to read, especially when the type and the boxes are blue or green. Those are rapidly fading against the white background. Even black print looks gray unless I make it larger and bold. But at least I can still see.

I’ve also noticed that magazines are getting harder to read. I swear the type is getting smaller. (I may not be wrong about that) . And have you noticed the “fine print” lately? For me, it’s even finer. It also seems package designers think it’s really clever to put yellow type on white backgrounds – that’s hard on two good eyes, let alone those with compromised vision.

I may start advocating on social media for the vision impaired. I don’t think they are giving much consideration by the powers that be – all over the internet and across all media platforms.

Twitter is the worst. They have so many color schemes that just disappear into oblivion. So clever – NOT. And finding the “color adjust” settings on most browsers is nearly impossible. It seems when you do find them and try to employ them, they change other screen settings, making it difficult to adjust to a screen you can live with across the board.

So, this month, I’ve pretty much played it by ear and done what I could, making small adjustments here and there. Not sure what the future may bring, but I’ll soldier on and do what I can to clear out my “Works In Progress” projects before whichever expiration date comes first.

 I’d like to leave you with this thought; None of my problems is any excuse for not making far more progress than I have. I’d like to think that my writer readers will see this and determine to do far better than I have. At least I will have inspired someone.

In next month’s blog, I will continue to journal my progress, both on the writing front and the vision front. Until that time, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

I’m also including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

June’s featured novel is my paranormal Western “Black Oak: Town of Joy” http://tinyurl.com/hohuhce 

June’s featured poetry chapbook is “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniversary Edition”  https://tinyurl.com/ybllonvw

The Darkening

May 2018 Blog

While I can see, I must be about finishing my manuscripts and publishing them. I can no longer look to the future.

The Darkening: A Haiku

Against ensuing

Blackness, I would enjoy what

Light I am allowed.

Life Sucks and then you die - and life still sucks - so says George in the series "Dead Like Me" and she knows.

The time to do my “to do” list has just been shortened considerably.

I’ve been wondering why everything seems so dark all the time.  Then I closed my right eye one day and saw only clouded images in my left. So I go to the doctor (after a few months). I have cataracts, right? Yep,  in both eyes actually. But that’s not the real problem. They are not worth operating on.

What the real problem is, is inoperable. I have Macular Degeneration. Something I thought only other people got. I didn’t realize it was an insidious, creeping condition that takes you unaware. The only thing that might halt or slow it down, seems to be a vitamin/mineral supplement concoction called A REDS-2, which I started taking on April 11^th, the day after my startling diagnosis. But it’s not a cure-all and I am going blind.

How soon? Don’t know.  Hopefully the retina specialist I’ve been referred to can tell me,  but he won’t be in town until May 24^th. (We have very limited resources here in the “UFO Capitol of the World”.)

In the meantime, while I can see (especially to format), I need to publish everything I can. Guess it’s also time to get those audio-books started. I’m going to be depending on those soon. My guess is, a lot of others enjoy them for the same reason.

I guess “through a glass, darkly,” will have different meaning for me now, as I assume everything will fade away to darkness.

I have added an additional task – that of studying Macular Degeneration to see what I can expect. I may even write about – if only to warn others out there that it does exist and you must do everything you can to protect yourself.

So far, I understand that one really does need to wear sunglasses, taking an A-Reds 2 supplement for the last few years (could) have helped, and the heavy doses of diuretics I take for my congestive heart failure condition probably hasn’t done my eyes any good.  I need to learn more.

On the writing front (after spending some time on self-pity) I have gotten back to writing. I’ll be finishing my Seasons of Sam Rock sequel soon.  I’ve also started formatting my next poetry chapbook, “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume Two: The Write Life”. Getting a good start on that should help with my subsequent releases, as I’ll only have to plug into the template. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

My next novel release will be the sequel to Black Oak. I just have to polish the manuscript, format and publish as well. Okay, I have to find the files first. I swear they are here somewhere. Really, I have a hard copy in a file box somewhere, and I have computer files saved from my old dead computer. Honestly, all I have to do is track them down. They are somewhere on my new half-Terrabyte hard drive and one or the other of my one-Terrabyte external hard drives. My computer guys did so much copying and saving, I may have multiple copies.

Guess I really should straighten all that out. My Norton security scans says I have over 1 million files on each drive. But, it’s really hard for me to stare at the screen much anymore.

By-the way, computer people, do you know that those of us with compromised eyesight can’t see all your fancy color concoctions? Your clever pale blues and pinks and light greens and (especially) yellow just fade into the white background. Those fill-in boxes are getting harder and harder to see. And the browser geniuses don’t seem to offer a display option that would benefit such impairment.

So, now, I muddle along, enjoying the visions before me less and less. But, while I can see, I need (more than ever) to get my last month’s ducks in some kind of order.

I also need to teach my husband how to pay the bills. He hasn’t paid a bill in over 31 years of marriage. He’s definitely going to have to learn to compromise and juggle, as I have done all the years – managing, somehow, to keep a roof over our heads and the lights, heat and water on. Oh, joy, won’t that be fun?

In next month’s blog, I will journal my progress, both on the writing front and the vision front. As I end this month’s blog, let me share another Haiku – appropriate to the way I feel right now.

It is this: Some days it doesn’t pay to think; other days, it’s just too painful.

Timeout: A Haiku

I’ll not be thinking

Today; my brain is tired,

And it needs to rest.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

This month, I’m including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

May’s featured novel is my Middle Grade sci-fi offering: “The Aurora UFO Incident - A Novel” https://tinyurl.com/yb875xw4

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is again “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

Spring Cleaning

April 2018 Blog

This one is for me. It’s time to put my ducks in a row.

Duck Soup: A Haiku

Just as well, perhaps,

My ducks won’t line up; they would

Make easy targets.

The unfinished symphony that is my life is better described as a cacophony of strident chords punctuated by uneasy silences. Before I go to wander aimlessly among the souls in purgatory, I need to attempt some basic harmony in both my personal and my professional life.

It has occurred to me that “I may not live out the year” gets more likely as each year passes. So…

It’s time to get so organized that even my labels have labels and so productive that each literary debut is greeted with “another one? I haven’t finished reading the last one yet.”

My deepest regret is that this effort will require two things I am loathe to relinquish: (1) my frequent nap times and (2) spending so much time working jigsaw puzzles on my computer. The next thing to go would be my Twitter time, but I’m  hoping simply to make that more productive.

As to the need for labels – I am tired of looking for things I know I have somewhere, and replacing those things is an unnecessary expense I can ill afford.

I grew up being told there is “a place for everything” and to put “everything in its place”. I never realized, when I was young, how important that would be to an “old person”.

The labels themselves need to be bigger, the older I get. Also, inventories are very helpful (with locations) – so you know what you’ve got and where it is. This is especially important when you possess literally hundreds of books and VHS tapes and DVD’s and CD’s. It’s also nice to be able to grab last month’s bills to make sure you actually paid them (assuming you remembered to pay them and actually made a note on the bill).

I  know I promised myself to do all this before, but those “shiny objects” that always seem to pop up have buried my good intentions under so much glare, that I need a list to remind me to look at my lists.

Did I forget to mention lists? They are particularly important the older or busier you get. (That’s it! I’ll claim to be busy. Age has nothing to do with it. Right! And on that note, my memory fails me.)

I’ve taken to making lists of the things I need to do each day,  but I find I frequently need a list each morning to reference the things on the list I need to do. And if that’s not complicated enough, I need to do those things of a morning, so I can spend the afternoons being literary, literally (Had to throw that in).

In the early afternoons I need to find time –  to write, to edit, to publish (including formatting), to promote –  you know, all those things important to an indie writer’s career.

For writing, I need to finish several manuscripts that have lain dormant way too long. Then they join my “for editing” list which currently includes the second of three ‘Black Oak” western paranormal novellas.

My “waiting for publishing” list includes more “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade” collections, the Black Oak sequel and the Sam Rock on which I’m still working. All that will require a lot of formatting. I guess I should include putting all my books on audio, especially the novels. Audio is so popular these days, I’d be remiss not to tap that market.

Promotion is still my biggest problem. I need to post my catalog on Twitter at least daily and make use of other sites that do promotion, although my funds for such are extremely limited. I realize you can’t “hide your candle under a bushel” and expect to be successful.

So it looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me. But if I don’t get at it, I’m going to leave an awful lot “unfinished” with no one knowing how to complete what I had in mind.

I feel I owe it to myself, my family and my friends to get as much out there for posterity as I can.

We’ll see how many ducks I can put in a row this first full month of Spring –  traditionally a time of renewal.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

April’s featured novel is my Young Adult fiction: “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”.  https://tinyurl.com/ydbhv3ae

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is again “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniversary Edition”.  https://tinyurl.com/ybllonvw

By the end of April, in honor of this being National Poetry Month, I plan to debut my second “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume Two: The Write Life”.

DO-OVER

March 2018 Blog

Do-Over

I’d like this to be my last time on Earth, for I am stardust and must rejoin the Universe.

Do Over: A Haiku

I’d not wait ‘til my

Next incarnation; I’d like

To get life right now.

Can I just start the year over again? I can’t believe that two months have slipped by already.

It’s not that I haven’t done anything in two months. It’s that what I’ve done has amounted to little actual accomplishment.

Maybe this month will be different. I’m calling for a do-over.  Oh, I know I can’t get January and February back. I’m just calling for an early reset so that the rest of the year doesn’t slip away.

I think I’ll start the month with promotion. I just got this neat book by Rachel Thompson (Bad Redhead Media) called “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge.” I’m about to plunge into it.

Okay, so I got the book a couple of three weeks ago and started it once, but as usual, I got sidetracked with life and only made it through Week One – the week on Twitter promotions.

So, for my do-over, I’m starting again. I’m taking the 30-day challenge from the beginning for the month of March.

Hope I can learn to boost my sales for the rest of the year. Social Security just doesn’t stretch too far these days. My writing needs to step up and fill the gap.

I’m checking my backlist of books available on Amazon. I’m only counting seven published. (Somehow I thought it should be nine. Don’t know how that happened.) Besides promoting what I have published, I need to double my output. Actually, I could triple it with all the Haiku chapbooks I have started.

I also need to get my books on audio. I can’t believe I haven’t done that yet. So many people “listen” to books these days. It’s ridiculous I haven’t even tapped this outlet.

I may even need to set up a studio to read the poetry books myself. Although I’m sure there are some excellent poetry readers out there, no one can know all the nuances that a poet thinks into the writing of a poem.

Besides, I love reading my poems and have always enjoyed recitations of my work. Guess I’m just a ham at heart.

Lots of other things I’d like to restart this year, but life is a linear progression. Although the older you get, it seems to tend to the exponential. It will suffice if I get my “authoring” life in order. Other things may naturally fall in line.

Back to the neat book I’ve acquired from my favorite source – Amazon, of course. I bought a hard copy of the “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge” because I love to make notes and mark up the pages.

I’m glad I also acquired the Kindle version, because there are so many links to so much great information. And the links are live in the Kindle version. I’ll take a live link any day to having to type a long string of words and symbols and then getting them wrong.

My current manuscript now has the dubious honor of having taken the longest to write of any of my novels ever. I’ve done pretty well on it so far this year. I’m planning to finish it by Easter. Actually, it’s my 40-days of Lent project, but I’ve missed a few days. So, I’ll be practicing catch-up again. (When am I not?)

I’m about to get distracted again. I’m outside, sitting in the sun and the wind, watching a squirrel skitter along the fence behind the only one of my dogs who has braved the wind with me.

The squirrels love to play games, it seems. They manage to stay one step ahead of the dogs, although sometimes, just barely.

I’m also listening to the birds chirping for their afternoon offering of seeds. They (and the squirrels) have become my morning and afternoon companions. There is nothing more freeing (to me, at least) than to sit in my backyard with pen and paper and write amidst birdsong and squirrel antics.

Thank goodness winter has been cooperative. We’ve had the mildest winter in years (which probably doesn’t bode well in the wake of climate change and global warming.)

That reminds me, one of my Haiku chapbooks will be titled “Global Warning”. I’m gathering a lot of my Earth and weather-related Haiku for that one. It will come out after my next one – on writing.

I hate to think what will happen to our children’s children’s future. I’ve noticed the changes even in my lifetime. If we do nothing about it, the future will be far different from the past – and not to the good of mankind.

As I look forward to the long month of March and the beginning of spring, I would advise the writers among my readers to double down on their efforts. Write whenever and however you can. Edit what you’ve written to the eye of the reader. Publish your best efforts – cast you work upon the waters. You never know who’s going to swim by and lap it up (my unabashed cliché for the month).  And then promote, promote, promote.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my 1940’s noir fiction “The Seasons of Sam Rock” https://tinyurl.com/ydftx4xq

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8