New Spring Reads, New Summer Reads, New Fun Reads--Great Sexy Books/Ebooks, Fiction for Adults--On Sale, All Summer!! From PIE: Percept and Neale Sourna.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/6/prweb397535.htm
Available, erotica romance author Neale Sourna’s new short story series [5000 words or more] “North Coast Academies’ Diary, Volume 1, Number 1, Laila: Cozy With Daddy,” with more issues to com; “Steve’s Monkey’s Paw & MORE,” a new sampler of short stories and novels excerpts; and a reprint/update of a romance award-winner BlackRefer.com Best Erotica Winner of 2004 “Hobble”--for readers and lovers of great storytelling from and about multiracial, interracial, African, and Native American contemporary literature.
Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) June 14, 2006 -- Publisher PIE: Perception Is Everything’s all-seeing-eye logo is overseeing its primary author erotica romance writer Neale Sourna’s new and revised book and journal issue catalog releases.
Just available are:
** an exciting new short story series, each published individually or in small groups [5000 words or more] “North Coast Academies’ Diary [NCAD], Volume 1, Number 1, Laila: Cozy With Daddy” [ISBN 0-9741950-5-7, ISSN 1553-8656, erotic obsession fiction, available as ebook Adobe/MS only at present, print version later this year] Neale Sourna’s NCAD is usually one short story per issue [i.e., approx. 5000 words / approx. 15 6.14”x9.21” story issue pgs], under the theme of sexual diary/journal entries of an academic community;
** “Steve’s Monkey’s Paw & MORE” [104 pages, US$3.95 SRP; also ebook Adobe, MS Reader], a new sampler of short stories [horror, enslavement, love, romance, and more] plus new novel and novella excerpts are included; and
** a reprint/update of a romance award-winner BlackRefer.com Best Erotica Winner of 2004 “Hobble” which also has bonus story materials [novel, explicit, 291 pages trade paperback, also ebooks Adobe, MS Reader, Palm, phone orders for print only 1-877-BUY-BOOK.
All for readers and lovers of great storytelling from and about multiracial, interracial, African, and Native American contemporary literature. No loincloths here, until Neale’s western is fully published.
Neale says, “I like and or have been compared to Zane, Jaid Black, and Anne Rice, but I see more parallel with Emily Bronte’s wild, sensual, sensuous, and mildly incestuous ‘Wuthering Heights’ in my stories; highly passionate, but with more sex and lovemaking, lots more. My hip-hop artist nephew recently came up with this -- ‘sex, romance, deception, manipulation, and vindication’ -- as his take on ‘Hobble,’ which is a good standard of my work in general. I’m adding his quote to my marketing. I also love that many have commented that they can’t get the novel back from their significant other. I love when they’re passionate about my storytelling and I love writing for adults and not family-oriented only. Remember, mature-rated is good, kids should have to wait like we did for the ‘good stuff,’ but we adults shouldn’t give up all that’s mature until the kids are grown enough. That’s ridiculous. The world’s not PG-rated, so why should daily, public, adult media pretend otherwise? Besides, which is more immediately corrupting, seeing murders and assaults on screen and in life or adults doing ‘icky and stupid stuff,’ like sex?”
---------------------
“North Coast Academies’ Diary” Volume 1, Number 1-- “Laila: Cozy With Daddy” -- Brainy, multiracial, private school virgin, Laila, chooses her handsome seducer for her deflowering. 7857 words;
“Steve’s Monkey’s Paw and MORE” -- STEVE is a horrid bad boy, envious of friend ALEX’s turn-around attitude with his soon-to-be new love, KARA, but grandma’s monkey’s paw, gives Steve complete control over anyone he wants; even Alex’s sweet new lady; against her will.... Plus MORE, there are more stories published [PLAYGIRL] and fascinating excerpts from more novels soon to come.
“Hobble” -- BENNET GILLESPIE, a successful, yet burned out half Native American medical professional, a healer with psychic talent, crashes into a recuperating “innocent” beauty on the beach; beginning an obsessive and intense sexual triangle with the seductive, young African American, DAY, who’s jealously guarded by HOPKINS, her overbearing, elderly British stepfather, and lover. [Neale is the model of Hobble’s cover, in full character as the deadly beauty, DAY]
Handsome Benn’s a genius and a master manipulator, but he could, in fact, literally lose his heart, his life, and his soul to the "knife-happy," legally insane Day, who’s desperate to be free of the prison mental ward lockdown to which she will be returned when the old man dies and free of this wealthy, well-connected man, who may have crippled her, and whom Benn may yet discover that their incestuous bond is closer by blood than she says.
Who is Neale Sourna?
Neale’s first novel to publish "Hobble" won the BlackRefer.com Year's Best Erotica Award and has published with PLAYGIRL Magazine, Distant Echoes military veterans’ magazine, and around the internet.
Neale’s favorite compliments she's received as a writer include an astonished comment from rocker-publisher Johnny Temple of Akashic Books and Girls Against Boys who, after reading his first excerpt of "Hobble" said he completely believed Neale was a man, which she plainly isn't in person. She says she hopefully is "a dude, mentally, when writing from a guy’s POV; which is a gift not a fetish." Another compliment comes from Traci, a young business owner in Cleveland who says Neale’s writing to her is better than Zane’s. Wow! So do we.
Visit the publisher at http://www.PIE-Percept.com/pr.htm and most online search engines for more detailed information and excerpts of Neale's works. Search Amazon and other online stores, or ask your local brick and mortar store to order Neale’s works.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
On Writing a Lyric for Joss Whedon's "Angel" Series
On Writing a Lyric [Angel/Angelus] for Joss Whedon's "Angel" Series at first I hated the theme, then it grew on me, then I became OBSESSED with making a lyric for it that expressed both sides of the man/vampire. Now I love it. Miss Spike though, always.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
IMDB Msg Board Writers Shop Talk -- Re: For anyone familiar with Word...
You don't need special screenwriting software to format your script to the Hollywood standard. Word or WordPerfect is all you require.
This will sound semi-complicated, but it's not. Take your time learning the software you have, use the HELP files and PLAY with it, learn what you need to know about it. Word is your instrument, practice with it, and be patient.
This is what can be done with it.
Set up your paragraph [description, character, wryly, speech, etc.] by using the HELP files to tell you how to make double-indented paragraphs for speeches, centered CHARACTER NAMES, and the like. Save your formatting to FORMAT, STYLES. It'll show up on your regular menu ahead of FONT [Times Roman, Courier] and SIZE 10, 12]. The default style says NORMAL.
Once you've set your STYLES [description, character, etc.], whenever you click on a paragraph, then select the style, it will update that text as description, FADE IN, speech, etc. And, if you ever make changes to that style it will update throughout ALL your pages.
STYLES can be setup to AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE, too, so as long as you've changed that text to the appropriate style, it'll change without you having to supercheck.
Great for correcting or moving margins for brads and the like.
This info can be SAVED AS a master TEMPLATE, or you can just make a duplicate file, delete everything except samples of your description, speech, etc, then save it as your SCREENPLAY FORMAT file.
I hope this helps.
Neale Sourna
Remember -- PIE: Perception Is Everything
This will sound semi-complicated, but it's not. Take your time learning the software you have, use the HELP files and PLAY with it, learn what you need to know about it. Word is your instrument, practice with it, and be patient.
This is what can be done with it.
Set up your paragraph [description, character, wryly, speech, etc.] by using the HELP files to tell you how to make double-indented paragraphs for speeches, centered CHARACTER NAMES, and the like. Save your formatting to FORMAT, STYLES. It'll show up on your regular menu ahead of FONT [Times Roman, Courier] and SIZE 10, 12]. The default style says NORMAL.
Once you've set your STYLES [description, character, etc.], whenever you click on a paragraph, then select the style, it will update that text as description, FADE IN, speech, etc. And, if you ever make changes to that style it will update throughout ALL your pages.
STYLES can be setup to AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE, too, so as long as you've changed that text to the appropriate style, it'll change without you having to supercheck.
Great for correcting or moving margins for brads and the like.
This info can be SAVED AS a master TEMPLATE, or you can just make a duplicate file, delete everything except samples of your description, speech, etc, then save it as your SCREENPLAY FORMAT file.
I hope this helps.
Neale Sourna
Remember -- PIE: Perception Is Everything
Re: Putting music in your scripts. Good idea???
F--k the director, and legal's music clearance. You're writing YOUR SCRIPT not the director's, who, by the way, is a hireling, who has nothing to do until you WRITE YOUR WORLD. You are God [see Nick Kazan quotes on such] for that script. If you want everything to be pink. Carnation pink, then it is. You can't help it if they hate pink, or just Carnation pink, or just don't get it pink or no pink. You can't dance hard enough or well enough to please everyone, especially someone you don't know.
Music's the same.
If you just want general mood music -- industrial rock, country western, etc., write that, but if your characters or milieu require specific music for meaning and character reinforcement, write it. A character who listens to George Clinton's P-Funk is not necessarily an Itzhak Perlman fan, and a specific song may say something specific to that emotional moment.
If legal can get the clearance, fine; if not, then they won't and the music director (MD) not the director will find a possible buyable substitute. Contrary to Hollywood's still prevailing idea that white guys can write everything about and for everyone else, without their input or flavor, is bunk. [see white guy written "Blade" BEFORE African American Wesley Snipes retooled it, it was not pretty and quite racist]
An African American, Asian, or Sri Lankan writer will hear different tunes in their heads for their script, the same as language. So, as long as the writer can identify the specific piece so the MD can understand what you're trying to communicate, do it. [see independent films "Love Actually" and "Luminarias" DVDs about their music clearance woes and wins]
It's YOUR SCRIPT, until you sell it away.
Songs can be reperformanced in the style of your favorite piece and save tons of cash. [Luminarias] Or the exact piece you want might become available at a reasonable price for YOUR work, if your production team is persuasive enough. [Luminarias -- Aretha, Ronstadt, film clip from Sam Raimi in "Donny Darko"]
Why should everyone bow and scrape to director's, especially those who can't write or write well for what they did in pulling all the people and film together? But not the writer, who pulled together memorable characterizations and situations for the producer, the director, the actor to get excited about? This year's big Oscar shouldn't've gone just to Clint Eastwood, but also to wonderful Paul Haggis of the exquisite "Due South".
Write whatever you need to write to feel excited, complete, and regretless about your work. Write for the one person you should know well, you.
Music's the same.
If you just want general mood music -- industrial rock, country western, etc., write that, but if your characters or milieu require specific music for meaning and character reinforcement, write it. A character who listens to George Clinton's P-Funk is not necessarily an Itzhak Perlman fan, and a specific song may say something specific to that emotional moment.
If legal can get the clearance, fine; if not, then they won't and the music director (MD) not the director will find a possible buyable substitute. Contrary to Hollywood's still prevailing idea that white guys can write everything about and for everyone else, without their input or flavor, is bunk. [see white guy written "Blade" BEFORE African American Wesley Snipes retooled it, it was not pretty and quite racist]
An African American, Asian, or Sri Lankan writer will hear different tunes in their heads for their script, the same as language. So, as long as the writer can identify the specific piece so the MD can understand what you're trying to communicate, do it. [see independent films "Love Actually" and "Luminarias" DVDs about their music clearance woes and wins]
It's YOUR SCRIPT, until you sell it away.
Songs can be reperformanced in the style of your favorite piece and save tons of cash. [Luminarias] Or the exact piece you want might become available at a reasonable price for YOUR work, if your production team is persuasive enough. [Luminarias -- Aretha, Ronstadt, film clip from Sam Raimi in "Donny Darko"]
Why should everyone bow and scrape to director's, especially those who can't write or write well for what they did in pulling all the people and film together? But not the writer, who pulled together memorable characterizations and situations for the producer, the director, the actor to get excited about? This year's big Oscar shouldn't've gone just to Clint Eastwood, but also to wonderful Paul Haggis of the exquisite "Due South".
Write whatever you need to write to feel excited, complete, and regretless about your work. Write for the one person you should know well, you.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Oh What a Big Gap in the Blog
Been consolidating and moving the websites and all the headaches that entails. So there will be some catching up of articles found to be posted and more.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Why I Write Erotica /Romantica [or How “Thelma and Louise” Validated Me]
Neale Sourna’s Writing Naked 101 – 2005, Jan 26
Why I Write Erotica /Romantica
[or How “Thelma and Louise” Validated Me]
I’d written a damn good non-love sex scene for my screenplay “FRAMES” [www.Neale-Sourna.com\FRAMESintro.htm] between not so ex-lover and bad girl witch, FRAN, and bad boy hero, reluctant psychic, and inadvertent reality transformer, CAMPBELL.
It is a scene which has not changed much in the three major incarnations of restructurings, script renamings, and several smaller top to bottom rewrites.
However, the major love and sex scene between Campbell and his cautious but dangerous telepathic dream girl, MALOY, was another matter. I wrote and entirely rewrote and rewrote it; changing locations, time of day, and how they’d mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically gotten there [natural teleportation via a perilous alternate plain of existence, made by him].
And even how reckless Campbell gets to the true knowledge [mundane and supernatural] that Maloy is not what his eyes, his fears, and Fran’s lies have made her.
Great stuff, but I floundered with my true lovers’ sex scenes, by self-censoring [“My god, I can’t write that.” Or “They’ll edit this all away, anyway, so why put it in there.”] , a la PG-13 versus R or NC-17, and the sillies who make up those wandering rules.
Do you know why I floundered so?
I was uncomfortable and squeamish; thinking it might seem “inappropriate” or “too racy”, and, more importantly, because as I write I normally feel what my characters feel. Which is fine, if I’m not over-filtering their needs and fears through my own, and therefore drowning or smothering their true reality out of existence.
Which says something about me at the time I was writing “TRIADS: The Perfect Mistress,” or “The Perfect Mistress,” which became “FRAMES,” finally, with the help of a few useful [many are not, so choose carefully, AND pray] professional comments from a Hollywood ex-development exec, helping me focus on the story I wanted to write, but had feared to go naked in public, and had hidden from myself, and you.
Which meant I had to get me out of the way.
Because I could write the sexy, antagonistic, clothes-tearing, witchcraft-induced rape of a hero’s body and mind, but not the cozy, intimately erotic “I am you and you are me” deal.
Solution?
Write out a few storylines as self-prescribed short stories and lay on the sex, UNCENSORED, often with a committed couple of some gender in the mix. I repeat -- UNCENSORED, without holding back.
If it scared me or surprised me, I wrote it; and kept it, if that character’s reality.
And as Thelma said to Louise about robbery and freedom in Callie Khouri’s “Thelma and Louise”, “I think I have a knack for this shit.”
Thus, an Erotica / Romantica Writer was born. Or self-made. And finally gave me something to do with all that so-called pornographic content that’d been cycling through my head, in diverse scenarios, since puberty struck with a vengeance at age ten, but now it’s channeled, focused, fun, useful, and a Hell of a conversation starter. Ω
Why I Write Erotica /Romantica
[or How “Thelma and Louise” Validated Me]
I’d written a damn good non-love sex scene for my screenplay “FRAMES” [www.Neale-Sourna.com\FRAMESintro.htm] between not so ex-lover and bad girl witch, FRAN, and bad boy hero, reluctant psychic, and inadvertent reality transformer, CAMPBELL.
It is a scene which has not changed much in the three major incarnations of restructurings, script renamings, and several smaller top to bottom rewrites.
However, the major love and sex scene between Campbell and his cautious but dangerous telepathic dream girl, MALOY, was another matter. I wrote and entirely rewrote and rewrote it; changing locations, time of day, and how they’d mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically gotten there [natural teleportation via a perilous alternate plain of existence, made by him].
And even how reckless Campbell gets to the true knowledge [mundane and supernatural] that Maloy is not what his eyes, his fears, and Fran’s lies have made her.
Great stuff, but I floundered with my true lovers’ sex scenes, by self-censoring [“My god, I can’t write that.” Or “They’ll edit this all away, anyway, so why put it in there.”] , a la PG-13 versus R or NC-17, and the sillies who make up those wandering rules.
Do you know why I floundered so?
I was uncomfortable and squeamish; thinking it might seem “inappropriate” or “too racy”, and, more importantly, because as I write I normally feel what my characters feel. Which is fine, if I’m not over-filtering their needs and fears through my own, and therefore drowning or smothering their true reality out of existence.
Which says something about me at the time I was writing “TRIADS: The Perfect Mistress,” or “The Perfect Mistress,” which became “FRAMES,” finally, with the help of a few useful [many are not, so choose carefully, AND pray] professional comments from a Hollywood ex-development exec, helping me focus on the story I wanted to write, but had feared to go naked in public, and had hidden from myself, and you.
Which meant I had to get me out of the way.
Because I could write the sexy, antagonistic, clothes-tearing, witchcraft-induced rape of a hero’s body and mind, but not the cozy, intimately erotic “I am you and you are me” deal.
Solution?
Write out a few storylines as self-prescribed short stories and lay on the sex, UNCENSORED, often with a committed couple of some gender in the mix. I repeat -- UNCENSORED, without holding back.
If it scared me or surprised me, I wrote it; and kept it, if that character’s reality.
And as Thelma said to Louise about robbery and freedom in Callie Khouri’s “Thelma and Louise”, “I think I have a knack for this shit.”
Thus, an Erotica / Romantica Writer was born. Or self-made. And finally gave me something to do with all that so-called pornographic content that’d been cycling through my head, in diverse scenarios, since puberty struck with a vengeance at age ten, but now it’s channeled, focused, fun, useful, and a Hell of a conversation starter. Ω
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
From the Author:
HOBBLE by Neale Sourna
From the Author:
Stories are important, fiction and nonfiction: news stories, fantasy stories, work stories, wishful stories, school stories, “nothing but the truth” stories, band bus stories, even stories about stories, plus our dreams (awake and asleep), and especially our nightmares.
They are a gift to be shared, a lesson learned, a journey taken, a wish fulfilled, a proposition considered—as translated through the intellect and heart.
Stories fine-tune our inner vision, because . . .
PIE: Perception Is Everything™,
Neale
Neale Sourna
PS
To my fun and articulate family with three special irreplaceable “thanks” to The Reynolds Brothers (Ira, Levi, Armin), to my bodacious life friends, and most especially to my perpetual enemies—THANK YOU.
Now you know what I was doing when I was too goofy to write you.
—S
PPS
Hank Centa, Ken Horner, and Joe DiLallo thanks big time for the time and support.
—S
From the Author:
Stories are important, fiction and nonfiction: news stories, fantasy stories, work stories, wishful stories, school stories, “nothing but the truth” stories, band bus stories, even stories about stories, plus our dreams (awake and asleep), and especially our nightmares.
They are a gift to be shared, a lesson learned, a journey taken, a wish fulfilled, a proposition considered—as translated through the intellect and heart.
Stories fine-tune our inner vision, because . . .
PIE: Perception Is Everything™,
Neale
Neale Sourna
PS
To my fun and articulate family with three special irreplaceable “thanks” to The Reynolds Brothers (Ira, Levi, Armin), to my bodacious life friends, and most especially to my perpetual enemies—THANK YOU.
Now you know what I was doing when I was too goofy to write you.
—S
PPS
Hank Centa, Ken Horner, and Joe DiLallo thanks big time for the time and support.
—S
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
REPRINT: Maxine Thompson's The Universal Language of Life
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
The Universal Language of Life
More Details at: http://www.maxinethompson.com
Three years ago, when I received the call from www.voice.america.com, asking if I would be interested in hosting a literary Internet radio show, I knew in a heartbeat that this was what I wanted to do. I didn’t have to sleep on it. I didn’t have to call and consult with anyone. I said a quick prayer and called right back. Committing to do the show for at least 13 weeks just felt right. I decided to name the show, "On The Same Page," taken from the name of my Internet Column, because writers are generally on the same page as dreamers.
This blessing reminded me of an experience I had just before I began hosting on the show. A few weeks earlier, on a Sunday, I accidentally stumbled into a Spanish congregation at my place of worship. At first, I started to leave, but then decided to stay and see how much of the meeting I could understand. (I hadn’t taken Spanish in over 30 years.)
I felt like an outsider and it struck me. Most creative artists write from a point of outside observation. Many writers tend to live on the fringes of society. Even many famous stories are about “Outsiders” such as in classics like Nathaniel Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter, Theodore Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, or Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. As an African American I can identify with the alienation explored in Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
That day, though, even as the outsider, I was surprised at how many things I understood—in spite of the language barrier. Because I could not understand the language, I tuned into the sounds of babies crying and young children stumbling over words as they tried to read from their Bibles. I watched young mothers comfort their children; proud father’s easing sleeping babies out of their mother’s arms—giving the mothers relief. I studied young newly weds holding hands and sneaking intimate peeks at one another. At the close of the meeting, when we sang, I recognized the emotion in the songs I knew by heart, even if they were sang in a different language.
From this experience, I got an idea. Just as it is the writer’s job to be a student of life, ever looking at old experiences with a fresh eye, it is also our job to help connect humanity. Our writing should be so universal that if it were translated, say into Spanish, with its romantic-sounding rolling r’s, the reader could still relate to the human longings, the foibles, and the frailties.
I had learned something from this meeting. There are 3 languages—-the language of the home, the language of the world and the language we all share—-the universal language of life. In addition to writing and publishing issues, these are some of the subjects I’d like to cover on On The Same Page Internet radio show at www.voiceamerica.com. I wanted to examine our differences and similarities as explored through the works of different writers from diverse backgrounds.
I have done the show for another reason. I like interviewing writers. They are often visionaries and generally peace makers. Writers have started revolutions of change, thoughts and ideas with the power of the pen. In addition, writers can give insights into their works that readers may or may not have recognized. It’s like that old saying, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, is there any sound?" It’s about the stimulus and the receptor.
In order for people to understand each other there has to be communication. One of the first diversity trainings I attended as a social worker dealt with being non-judgmental. As a writer, how do we do this? We put ourselves inside the character’s shoes and as that old Indian proverb goes, "we walk around in another man’s moccasins."
In the wake of 911, it is imperative that people begin to understand how to walk in another man’s shoes. I want to dive beneath the surface and talk about the issues we as humans beings face. We must learn to connect to one another and embrace that we are all part of the family of man in order to communicate, to learn, to understand.
From this end I have done shows on Voiceamerica.com since 3/5/02, Artistfirst.com since March 2004, and I hosted on harambeeradio.com for a six month stint.
Now I am gearing up to begin the Maxine Show in January 2005. This show will be dedicated to authors, readers, entrepreneurs in the Internet marketing or literary arena. I will be interviewing experts in order for listeners to learn the art of "How To Do various skills.
The show will be broadcast through live365.com and found at my website at http://www.maxinethompson.com.
These are the benefits of on-line radio.
1.You get to discuss your book, as well as tell who you are as a human being. Many readers like to get inside of a writer's heads.
2. You can read excerpts from your book and answer call-ins or emails.
3. You get to give out your websites, or places your books can be purchased and you get experience with being interviewed by the media.
4. You get to build a larger fan base through the archives.
5. You get to connect emotionally with your readers.
6. Your interview is not limited to one geographical area such as in off-line radio.
Why is Internet radio cost-effective for authors?
Who can better sell our books than us? In order to compete on a global scale, we must make use of this new technology.
A book is the perfect gift for Christmas. Please order my books at
http://www.maxinethompson.com/ebookstore.html
http://www.maxinethompson.com/Catalogue.html
http://www.maxinethompson.com/literaryservices.htmlLink: http://www.maxinethompson.com
The Universal Language of Life
More Details at: http://www.maxinethompson.com
Three years ago, when I received the call from www.voice.america.com, asking if I would be interested in hosting a literary Internet radio show, I knew in a heartbeat that this was what I wanted to do. I didn’t have to sleep on it. I didn’t have to call and consult with anyone. I said a quick prayer and called right back. Committing to do the show for at least 13 weeks just felt right. I decided to name the show, "On The Same Page," taken from the name of my Internet Column, because writers are generally on the same page as dreamers.
This blessing reminded me of an experience I had just before I began hosting on the show. A few weeks earlier, on a Sunday, I accidentally stumbled into a Spanish congregation at my place of worship. At first, I started to leave, but then decided to stay and see how much of the meeting I could understand. (I hadn’t taken Spanish in over 30 years.)
I felt like an outsider and it struck me. Most creative artists write from a point of outside observation. Many writers tend to live on the fringes of society. Even many famous stories are about “Outsiders” such as in classics like Nathaniel Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter, Theodore Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, or Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. As an African American I can identify with the alienation explored in Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
That day, though, even as the outsider, I was surprised at how many things I understood—in spite of the language barrier. Because I could not understand the language, I tuned into the sounds of babies crying and young children stumbling over words as they tried to read from their Bibles. I watched young mothers comfort their children; proud father’s easing sleeping babies out of their mother’s arms—giving the mothers relief. I studied young newly weds holding hands and sneaking intimate peeks at one another. At the close of the meeting, when we sang, I recognized the emotion in the songs I knew by heart, even if they were sang in a different language.
From this experience, I got an idea. Just as it is the writer’s job to be a student of life, ever looking at old experiences with a fresh eye, it is also our job to help connect humanity. Our writing should be so universal that if it were translated, say into Spanish, with its romantic-sounding rolling r’s, the reader could still relate to the human longings, the foibles, and the frailties.
I had learned something from this meeting. There are 3 languages—-the language of the home, the language of the world and the language we all share—-the universal language of life. In addition to writing and publishing issues, these are some of the subjects I’d like to cover on On The Same Page Internet radio show at www.voiceamerica.com. I wanted to examine our differences and similarities as explored through the works of different writers from diverse backgrounds.
I have done the show for another reason. I like interviewing writers. They are often visionaries and generally peace makers. Writers have started revolutions of change, thoughts and ideas with the power of the pen. In addition, writers can give insights into their works that readers may or may not have recognized. It’s like that old saying, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, is there any sound?" It’s about the stimulus and the receptor.
In order for people to understand each other there has to be communication. One of the first diversity trainings I attended as a social worker dealt with being non-judgmental. As a writer, how do we do this? We put ourselves inside the character’s shoes and as that old Indian proverb goes, "we walk around in another man’s moccasins."
In the wake of 911, it is imperative that people begin to understand how to walk in another man’s shoes. I want to dive beneath the surface and talk about the issues we as humans beings face. We must learn to connect to one another and embrace that we are all part of the family of man in order to communicate, to learn, to understand.
From this end I have done shows on Voiceamerica.com since 3/5/02, Artistfirst.com since March 2004, and I hosted on harambeeradio.com for a six month stint.
Now I am gearing up to begin the Maxine Show in January 2005. This show will be dedicated to authors, readers, entrepreneurs in the Internet marketing or literary arena. I will be interviewing experts in order for listeners to learn the art of "How To Do various skills.
The show will be broadcast through live365.com and found at my website at http://www.maxinethompson.com.
These are the benefits of on-line radio.
1.You get to discuss your book, as well as tell who you are as a human being. Many readers like to get inside of a writer's heads.
2. You can read excerpts from your book and answer call-ins or emails.
3. You get to give out your websites, or places your books can be purchased and you get experience with being interviewed by the media.
4. You get to build a larger fan base through the archives.
5. You get to connect emotionally with your readers.
6. Your interview is not limited to one geographical area such as in off-line radio.
Why is Internet radio cost-effective for authors?
Who can better sell our books than us? In order to compete on a global scale, we must make use of this new technology.
A book is the perfect gift for Christmas. Please order my books at
http://www.maxinethompson.com/ebookstore.html
http://www.maxinethompson.com/Catalogue.html
http://www.maxinethompson.com/literaryservices.htmlLink: http://www.maxinethompson.com
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