Get Me The Shorty!

Nominate Sherri Rabinowitz for a social media award in the Shorty Awards

I am so excited to be nominated for my first award as a blogger! I am up for the Shorty Award please vote for me so I can be a finalist.(Please put a reason why or the vote does not count) http://shortyawards.com/rithebard.

I am also excited to let you know that there will be, (just before my birthday) A week of Ri, where they will be highlighting some of my fan fiction stories for a whole week. I will make comments on them and have a chat with the fans. It will be on The Fan Fiction Lounge  starting on February 11 to 15th. The stories the site have chosen are listed below;

 

The Dakota Series

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The Ghost Series

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Behind the Black Cloud

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Fashionable Disclosure

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Into Each Life

Please come and join the fun;  http://fanfictionreviews2012.freeforums.org/.

I had a lively chat this week on my show Chatting With Sherri with talented artist and master Jeweler Lisa Lichty!   She has written articles about  her craft of designing for my e-magazine Sherri’s Jewel Box http://sherrisjewelbox.weebly.com/ and discussed the process of becoming a Master Jeweler! It was a really fascinating interview. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rithebard/2013/02/05/chatting-with-sherri

 

Next week please welcome my guest author Mata Raa with her latest book. Blue Lagoon Summer. Blue Lagoon Summer takes us into the mystical world of Tahiti as well as that of the black pearl. Vaheana learns not only about her family, Tahitian culture and its language but also about becoming a woman and growing up in every sense of the word. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rithebard/2013/02/12/chatting-with-sherri

Please welcome my latest guest for my on-line interview series, Alana Woods;

What was the first book you remember loving? Do you still own it?
Jennifer and the flower fairies, published in 1950, and unfortunately, no, I don’t still have it. The last time I remember seeing it was on my bookshelf about 10 years ago. Then one day as I was dusting I noticed it was gone. So someone had not been able to resist and helped themselves. I didn’t inquire—I didn’t want to know.
I have thought about buying another copy. But as yet I haven’t gone the extra step and actually done it.

What kind of books do you like to read? Do those books have an affect on your own writing?
I read a lot of genres. Don’t like horror, the paranormal and erotica. Stories generally don’t influence my writing but the way they’re told and writing styles most certainly do. So many authors have influenced me: Dorothy Dunnett, the Scottish writer whose prose is just magic, and the way she tells a story, also magic. Then there’s Dick Francis—love the seemingly simple straightforwardness of his earlier works. The language of Jane Austen. They’re the ones that jump immediately to mind but if I searched my bookshelves I could name a dozen or so more.

Do you remember what is the first book that touched you deeply?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. At school I was one of those kids who had always read all the books on the reading list before the school year began and Jane Eyre just sang. I don’t recall why; the language maybe, the story line perhaps. I imagine it was a mix of everything. Just so evocative for a 15 year old girl. It still remains a favourite.

Is there an era of writing that affects you? 1920, 1800’s so forth?
As a reader I enjoy books from any era as long as they’re well told and Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte continue to work their spells on me. As a writer one of my first attempts at a novel had a Tudor period setting. What it taught me was that although I loved reading about the period it wasn’t for me as a writer. I found my niche in contemporary fiction.

Where do you like to write? Is there a favorite nook or corner?
All I ask for is a quiet space and that I’m alone. I can’t concentrate if someone is moving around or if there’s any background noise such as radio or TV. But the sounds of nature don’t affect me; we abut a nature park and there’s a variety of birds warbling, twittering or being raucous all day, but I like the fact they’re there.

Do you prefer one genre to another?
To write? Contemporary intrigue suspense. My novels have been labelled Thrillers by publishers but I’ve never seen them as thrilling. They’ve also been called literary, which I like. It’s nice to think people regard your work as a cut above the average. But I definitely prefer writing stories based in the here and now.

Do you like the feel of a book in your hands or do prefer an electronic device?
I have a kindle. I read and review weekly for my blog so e-books are definitely the way to go for that. I just don’t have the storage space for so many hard copies.
But for the love of reading I still like the feel of paper.
One of the downsides of a kindle when I’m reading to review is that if I want to go back to check something it’s not the simplest or quickest of things to do. With a hard copy you just flip through until you find it.

 
Can you tell us about what you’re working on now?
My third novel which is contemporary fiction. I finished the first draft a couple of years ago and then put it away. I pulled it out just last week to get back into it.

My first published novel AUTOMATON has a legal theme. My second IMBROGLIO has a quasi espionage theme. The third revolves around the corporate world of global mergers.

The novels so far are very firmly based on jobs I’ve held. I was a court reporter when I wrote AUTOMATON and working in a defence research facility at the time of IMBROGLIO. The current one, called DRAGLINE, is a result of my years as director of publishing at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission—lots of mergers for me to draw on there. 🙂

Here is a short bio of Alana;
My family emigrated from the UK to Australia when I was four.  I grew up in the coastal suburbs of Adelaide but now live in Canberra.  It’s where two of my children live. We (that’s me and my husband John) also spend time in West Sussex with our oldest daughter Simone, also an author.

I’ve been a professional editor for over 30 years. I’m no longer in full-time employment—haven’t been for about six years. Most of my time now is taken up with my own writing but I continue to contract edit part time. I have five books published. Two are categorized as thrillers but I prefer to call them suspense intrigue novels, Automaton and Imbroglio. Another is a short story collection, Tapestries and other short stories. The other two are non-fiction. A fiction writing guide that I developed from a tips sheet I’ve handed out over the years to learner writers wanting feedback on their work: 25 essential writing tips: guide to writing good fiction. http://www.amazon.com/Alana-Woods/e/B0061UWNN0/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Till next time….