In 1995 UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) chose April 23rd as World Book Day and Copyright Day to celebrate books and authors. April 23, 1616 is the date when both William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes, and several other authors whose names are not household words all died.
As a lifelong, avid reader, I love the idea of a special day to celebrate love of reading. I recently saw a musical version of Little Women at a community theatre production and was reminded of how much I had loved the book when I was a child. I clearly remember one day when I was re-reading the book and sobbing over Beth’s death. My mother asked in an exasperated tone, “Why do you read that book if it makes you cry?” “It’s so good,” I sobbed. I lost count of how many times I read the book but it had to be at least ten.
Like a lot of authors, love of reading led me to decide I wanted to be a writer, something my parents actively discouraged. I remember coming home in 9th grade with the results of the Kuder Preference Test, which all students were required to take. My results said I had interests similar to teachers, librarians and writers. My folks very quickly made it clear to me that only two of those vocations were acceptable. None of us realized that many writers start out writing around their full-time job.
I decided to become a librarian. At least that way I could be surrounded by books all day. Little did I know my first job would be as a technical librarian, surrounded by books on electronics which I could not begin to understand! It was very odd to preside over a library of books where I could only understand the dictionary and encyclopedia! Later I switched to public libraries and enjoyed my job a lot more.
While I write romance and love to read more romance, my reading tastes are actually pretty eclectic. I belong to a readers group that chooses a topic rather a book every month. This month we’ve been reading books with a Psychology element. I found three good novels to read: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler; Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick; and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg. All were excellent. Next month: Historical Fiction, one of my favorite topics.
What have you been reading lately?
Linda
Linda McLaughlin grew up with a love of history fostered by her paternal grandmother and an incurable case of wanderlust inherited from her father. She has traveled extensively within the United States and has visited Mexico, Canada, Australia and Europe. She now lives near the ocean in Orange County, California.
Linda writes historical and Regency romance under her real name and spicier romance under the pseudonym Lyndi Lamont.
Connect with her at her website or on Twitter @LyndiLamont.
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St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner…
So how could I not put up a Princess video with a magic shamrock theme?
Here is the latest in my “Princess Chronicles” — video romance poems about being a princess. My princesses know a tiara doesn’t a princess make…and in this story, we meet a princess who’s not looking for a prince but a job!!
The Princess and the Magic Shamrock from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.
In case you’ve missed my other Princess videos, check them out at:
https://vimeo.com/user216350
Best,
Jina
© Chulkova2911 | Dreamstime.com |
The clock is ticking…
Tick tock…tick tock…
How many words did you write today? Why haven’t you finish that book yet?
We all torment ourselves with these phrases and then blame our lack of productivity on…
Twitter…Facebook…Instagram…kids…family…the Internet…not enough coffee.
It’s all about focus.
And finding that beautiful space in our minds where we can run free and create and write and write and write.
It can be as elusive as a butterfly.
But well worth going after, no matter what gets in our way.
According to experts, interruptions can put a big damper on our concentration and it can take about ten minutes to get the writing flowing again.
So the next time an email pops into your Inbox, or the phone rings, or someone yells, “Hey, Mom, are you busy?” know that it’s not your fault if it takes a few minutes to get back into the moment.
Then let the butterfly in your mind run free…
Best,
Jina
www.jinabacarr.com
www.facebook.com/JinaBacarr.author
https://twitter.com/JinaBacarr
http://www.pinterest.com/jbacarr
In case you missed it, here is an 11-minute video with an excerpt from Chapter One in my novella, “A Soldier’s Italian Christmas” available on Amazon Kindle.
You can be sure I had a lot of interruptions putting this together, but I finished it!
A Soldier’s Italian Christmas: Excerpt from Chapter One from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.
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Can she catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown?
More info →Not all fairy tales are as they appear.
More info →Can a gentleman be too charming? The ladies of Upper Upton think so.
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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