Twitteriffic Thursday!

Literary Wonders! and The Author’s Hideaway has declared today Twitterific Thursday. Every Thursday, you will find a list of ten (10) “Tweeters” or “Tweeples” in the literary and publishing industry that you should be following. Please note that the list changes every week.

If you would like your Twitter ID added to our growing list, please email us your Twitter ID to info@literarywonders.com. Please limit your IDs to those that pertain to the industry ONLY.  Now, Get your Tweet on!

@lwkids - Literary Wonders Kids! is an extension of Literary Wonders! We educate and encourage literacy through reading and creative writing for children 8-21. http://www.literarywonderskids.com

@PublishersWkly - The international magazine of bookselling and publishinghttp://publishersweekly.com

@candacekthe1 - Web and Design Diva; Beauty Connoisseur, UX Enthusiast, Music Lover, etc.

@MelissaLBennett - http://www.ccediting.com

@AP Stylebook - The essential style guide for journalists. Ask the Editor remains the best place to take specific style questions: bit.ly/14CdnWhttp://www.apstylebook.com/

@SubvCopyEd - Carol Fisher Saller, editor of The Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A and author of The Subversive Copy Editor and Eddie's Warhttp://www.subversivecopyeditor.com/blog/

@ChicagoManual - Clear, concise, and replete with commonsense advice, I offer the wisdom of a hundred years of editorial practice.http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

@Copyediting - Tips for editors of books, newspapers, magazines, and corporate communications. Copyeditors unite! http://copyediting.com

@APA_Style - Official tweet companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition http://blog.apastyle.orghttp://apastyle.org

@carleenbrice - My first novel Orange Mint and Honey was made into a LMN movie starring Jill Scott. My 2nd novel Children of the Waters was called sparkling & compelling. http://www.carleenbrice.com

Day 30: Get Ready for National Poetry Month!

Remember April is Poetry Month. Check back frequently for poems from our featured poet Rick Bonner and other poets during the month of April. If you would like your poem featured at The Author’s Hideaway, please send your poem and your name to literaryshowcase@literarywonders.com. All poems must be clean and void of profanity. Check out the National Poetry Month website to find poetry events during the month of April and poetry month events near you. 

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events. Click here to receive a free Poetry Month Poster. 

Magnolia Walls

by Rick Bonner

Magnolia walls stand to impassive attention,
Observing in silence each jealous intention.
The past has been painted with a clinical sheen,
Concealing lives that are not what they seems.

Smiles at the party playing host to their friends,
The perfect example of a love that never ends?
Dancing the tango, they rise to the occasion,
While onlookers gasp, 'They're such a sensation!'


Magnolia walls like false skin over plaster,
Is having sex with the enemy a natural disaster?
Obscuring dark realities from intrusive eyes,
They face family and friends with a slither of lies.

The time bomb ticks with each wound and scar.
From slurred drunken brawls by their built in bar.
Is there hope for redemption beyond bitter blame?
Or a way to end, their cruel tit-for-tat games?


Magnolia walls antiseptic and new,
Covering raw anger in a hellish red hue.
The appearance of perfection hides intolerable spite,
And baffles the observer to their unfulfilled plight. 

Once they were truly and hopelessly in love,
When those wild steamy nights were never enough.
Did their desire to appease the expectation of others,
Destroy the romance of two passionate lovers?


Magnolia walls surrounding each night,
But it takes more than a paintbrush to make things right.
Has the pain been too harsh for a reconnection,
Or will love find a pathway back home to affection. 

So is it possible for two to start again?
Go back to those days when they were more than friends?
Now they race to the bedroom by the upstairs hall,
And renew their bitter sweet bonds beneath magnolia walls.

Day 29: Introducing the Inspirational Literary Circle

Inspirational Literary Circle is designed to inspire others to read.

Authors, do you feel that there is never enough time in the run of a day to do everything you need? Do tasks such as writing, meeting deadlines and updating social networks fill a good portion of your day? Inspirational Literary Circle has a package deal for you. Contact via email to find out more information. Website coming soon!

Also, visit Reviews and Views by LaToya!

Day 28: REVIEW - Half a Life by Darin Strauss

Date:                         3/25/11

Title:                         Half a Life: A Memoir

Author:                     Darin Strauss

ISBN 10:                  

ISBN 13:                   978-0-8129-8253-4

ASIN:

OTHER:                    

Pages:                      193

Publisher:                Random House Trade Paperback

Cover:                      Paperback/ARC

Reviewer:                Yolanda M. Johnson-Bryant– Literary Wonders!  

Rating:                     3 Stars

Half A Life is the memoir of Darin Strauss. During his senior year of high school, like a typical teenager, Darin had plans to hang out with his friends. On that day, with his friends in the car, as they drove to play put-put golf, Darin's life is changed forever.

In a flash, at forty miles and hour, Darin hits Celine Zilke with his Oldsmobile as she and her friend rode their bikes alongside a four lane road. Sixteen year old Celine later died at the hospital.

Mr. Strauss takes his readers along with him on his real-life journey. This book is about grief and how people deal with it differently. Celine's parents said with their mouths that they didn't blame Darin for the accident, after all, she did swerve over two lanes of traffic causing the accident—but in their hearts, they blamed Darin and wanted him to pay; someone to pay.

Darin shows us in situations as devastating as this, everyone involved suffers and has to find a way to cope with the reality of their circumstances. Not only did Celine's parents suffer, but Darin's personal guilt lasted for years. He constantly questioned if he could have done something to prevent the accident.

Darin would go through years of counseling, a civil trial, secrets in Celine's diary and a family of his own, before he is finally released of the guilt of having killed someone and wondering why he was the one that was alive.  It wasn't until his thirties that this author found peace in his life.

I think this book will help many. I happen to know someone personally, who was in Darin's shoes, and I question whether that person has dealt with their guilt and found peace. I will certainly recommend this book in hopes that it will start the healing process. Thank you, Mr. Strauss, for this touching memoir.

Day 25: Fan Page Friday!

Literary Wonders! and The Author’s Hideaway has declared today Fan Page Friday. Every Friday, you will find a list of ten (10) Industry specific Fan Pages that you should be following.

If you would like your Fan Page added to our growing list, please email us your Fan Page name and link to info@literarywonders.com. Please limit your pages to those that pertain to the industry ONLY.  Now, let the fan fest begin!

Inspirational Literary Circle - Authors, do you feel that their is never enough time in the run of a day to do everything you need. Things from writing, meeting deadlines and updating on social networks such as Facebook & Twitter. Inspirational Literary Circle has a package deal for you. Contact via email to find out more information.

Just Michelle and Dana - Just Michelle and Dana is a Christian radio show that is redefining life, business, and play with hosts Michelle Harden and Dana Pittman.

Brian O’Mara-Croft - Brian O'Mara-Croft is the author of Lost in the Hive: Confessions of a Reluctant Drone, a collection of humorous essays. Lost in the Hive is published by PublishingWorks, and is available at numerous online and bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

Alyssa Ast - I work as a freelance writer for many online companies and private clients, fulfilling the need for quality content. I specialize in SEO/SEM content, increasing online traffic and profit potential. Journalism is my true passion and I currently write as a citizen journalist for the local paper, the Kingman Daily Miner, as well as the Phoenix and Flagstaff Examiner.

Carolyn Moncel - An American PR executive living in Paris thinks she has the perfect life until trouble enters her world via job loss, infidelity, and death.

Don Savant - I came into this world from inspiration. My mission, my goal, is to inspire others through words of wisdom and encouragement. My destiny is to be a blessing to those that want and need to hear what I have to say. May God keep you. -The LFM

Allie Larkin - Allie Larkin lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Jeremy, their two German Shepherds, Argo and Stella, and a three-legged cat. She is the cofounder of TheGreenists.com, a site dedicated to helping readers take simple steps toward going green. STAY (Dutton), her first novel, is a story of friendship, love, and a German Shepherd named Joe. Allie’s essay about Stella will be in Wade Rouse’s dog anthology, I'M NOT THE BIGGEST BITCH IN THIS RELATIONSHIP, due out in November from NAL. For more information see www.allielarkinwrites.com

Dina Kucera - A book that can change behavior, save lives and make you laugh along the way.

Sheila Peele-Miller - Instructor, Author, Publisher

E.J. Van Amelsvoort - The incomparable Elizabeth Jane Van Amelsvoort, will steal your heart. She captivates the reader, with her artistic ability, to paint her story and characters with imagination, vitality and pure magic.

Irene Sabatini - WINNER of the Orange Award for New Writers -- THE BOY NEXT DOOR is an astonishing, brilliant debut novel about what it means to witness, to change, to love, and to remain whole when the world outside is falling apart -- http://www.irenesabatini.com/

Twitteriffic Thursday!

Literary Wonders! and The Author’s Hideaway has declared today Twitterific Thursday. 

Every Thursday, you will find a list of ten (10) “Tweeters” or “Tweeples” in the literary and publishing industry that you should be following.

If you would like your Twitter ID added to our growing list, please email us your Twitter ID to info@literarywonders.com. Please limit your IDs to those that pertain to the industry ONLY.  Now, Get your Tweet on!

@AChapterAMonth - Authors...all...the...time. No more waiting for a year to hear from your favorite author. http://achapteramonth.com

@michellendana - Just Michelle and Dana is a Christian radio show that is redefining moments in life, business, and play with hosts Michelle Harden and Dana Pittman. http://www.justmichelleanddana.com

@Dolen - Author of New York Times Bestseller WENCH: A Novel.http://www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com

@BooksonBoard - The World's Largest Independent Ebookstore http://booksonboard.com/

@CFOnlineMag - Informative and entertaining articles on reading and writing Christian fiction, written by the best and brightest authors in the CBA and ECPA industries. http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com

@DanteLee - Marketing Guru. PR Maven. Award-Winning Business Coach. Prolific Blogger. Best-Selling Author of 'Black Business Secrets'.http://www.BlackBusinessSecrets.com

@TLCBookTours - Providing virtual book tours to authors and publishershttp://tlcbooktours.com

@BookLending - 18,000+ Kindle owners connect to lend and borrow Kindle books on BookLending.com (formerly Kindle Lending Club). Join us!http://www.BookLending.com

@Authorlink - Online news site for writers, agents, and publishers. Doris Booth, editorhttp://www.authorlink.com

@WritersEdu - Writers Education provides on-demand access to lots of writing courses. Connect, learn to write, grow, and share with top publishing professionals and peers. http://writerseducation.com

The Writer's Digest 80th Annual Writing Competition

For 80 years, the Annual Writer’s Digest Competition has rewarded writers just like you for their finest work. We continue the tradition by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes!

Win a trip to the Writer's Digest Conference in New York City !

GRAND PRIZE: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors or agents. Writer's Digest will fly you and a guest to The Big Apple for the conference. While you're there, a Writer's Digest editor will arrange for you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents!

Deadline:  May 2, 2011.

Late Deadline: May 20, 2011.

Add $5 per manuscript or poem to Entry Fee(s) on all entries submitted between May 3 and May 20.

Click here for guidelines and more information.

Day 22: EVENT - Novel Writing Boot Camp

Grand Hyatt DFW
Dallas, Texas 
May 6-7, 2011

Two full days of intensive hands-on training from four of the most successful fiction writers and mentors in the business. Limited to 40 registrants, so you’ll enjoy no more than 10 students per instructor.

Your Drill Instructors

Best-selling authors with long histories of mentoring writers.

Jerry B. Jenkins
A Christy Award-winning author with sales of more than 70 million – including the Left Behind series. His writing has appeared in Time,Reader’s Digest, Parade and Guideposts. Twenty of his books have reached the New York Times best-seller list (seven debuting number one).

Brandilyn Collins
A best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense. She has authored over 20 books including Exposure and the recently released Deceit. She has won ACFW Book of the Year, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice awards.

Click here for more information and registration. 

Day 21: Review Monday - 3 New Reviews

The Kandie Shop

The Kandie Shop, by Shelia M. Goss is the first in a series of shorts called Love Bites. Shelia never ceases to amaze me with her ability to whip open a can of story line, add tons of character and pinch of romance and adventure. 


To read this review in its entirety and its rating, click here.










Loyalty to Your Soul: The Heart of Spiritual Psychology

Loyalty to Your Soul by Doctors’ Ronald and Mary Hulnick challenges readers to do a little soul searching by re-evaluating the things that are important andnot so important in their lives as well relearning and unlearning those things that form our very being, whether good or bad. 


To read this review in its entirety and its rating, click here.








Start it Up: The Complete Business Teen Guide to Turning Your Passion Into Pay

Start It Up, by Kenyra Rankin, gives no-nonsense tips and ideas on how teens can make money. It gives young entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs the necessary steps to start a business and make money. It also gives the pros and cons of starting a business. 


To read this review in its entirety and its rating, click here.

Day 18: Presenting "A Chapter a Month"

A CHAPTER A MONTH

Authors you love...all the time. 

Introducing A Chapter a Month. The first of its kind website where a team of today's top-selling authors have joined together to give readers the literary ride of their lives. No more waiting a year to hear from a favorite author. Now readers will enjoy fresh, exciting chapters every month as authors unfold their stories one chapter at a time.

Readers will travel with the authors on their writing journeys and watch the novels come to life. But A Chapter a Month will take the reader beyond the pages as well...each month the readers will experience their favorite authors in ways they've never been seen before.

Whether it's a video of a day-in-the-life of an author or an "interview with a favorite character," A Chapter a Month moves writers from just writing and readers from just reading and takes us all into this brave new world of reading entertainment. And preferred readers will have access to authors through live video streams.

There is even something for aspiring writers: "Writers on Writing" one hour workshops each month that can be watched live as well as saved through podcasts.

This site allows readers to enjoy the written word, get to know their favorite authors and have a chance to meet a few new scribes as well. A Chapter a Month joins readers and writers together in a way that's beyond the ordinary.

To learn more about “A Chapter a Month”, please visit AChapterAMonth.com and follow them on Twitter.

Day 17: In Light of Women's History Month

Women’s History Month Quiz

Created by Margaret Zierdt, National Women's History Project Board member

Can You Identify These Women of Great Vision and Achievement Whose History Is Our Strength

1. Who became the first female Secretary of State of the United States, appointed by President Clinton in 1997?
2. Who took over management of Columbia Sportswear Company in the late 1930’s, when it was near bankruptcy, and turned it into the largest American ski apparel company worth $4 billion in 1972?
3. Who was the first woman in modern history to lead a major Native-American tribe, the Cherokee Nation?
4. Who was the first American woman poet whose poetry was published in London in 1650?
5. Who is considered the first American woman to be ordained by full denominational authority in 1864, and who also campaigned vigorously for full woman suffrage?
6. Who was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. Congress and was a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus?
7. Who was the ecologist writer whose path breaking book, "Silent Spring" in 1962 initiated the environmental movement?
8. Who was the first black woman and the youngest poet laureate in American history when she was appointed in 1993?
9. Who was imprisoned and then hanged for her Quaker faith in Boston in 1660, and 400 years later her statue was placed in front of the state House?
10. Who was the female lawyer who worked for equal rights and suffrage, co-founded the ACLU in 1910, and helped write the Equal Rights Amendment?
11. Who led the fight to criminalize lynching, helped form the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and aided many black people who migrated from the South to Chicago?
12. Who became the first female president of Harvard University when she was named its 28th president in 2007?
13. Who became the first woman vice-president candidate on a major political party ticket when selected in 1984?
14. Who volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War, earning the nickname “Mother,” and after peace became an attorney advocating for veterans?
15. Who was the United States delegate to the United Nations who championed and won approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948?
16. Who earned a graduate degree from Oberlin College in 1888, was the first black woman to serve on a Board of Education (in D.C.), sued to integrate restaurants in the 1950’s, integrated the American Association of University Women at age 85, and was a founding member of NAACP?
17. Who wrote "The Feminine Mystique" in 1968 and became a leading figure in the Women's Movement?
18. Who was the first woman promoted to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force (1971) and the first female major general in any armed forces in 1973?
19. Who was a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy credited with developing the COBOL computer language, and with coining the phrase “debugging” to fix a computer?
20. Who was one of the first black physicians in New York City and the first black woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital medical school in 1926?
21. Who was the free-thinking woman who was forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and sought sanctuary in Roger Williams' Rhode Island in 1637?
22. Who is the architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which she designed when she was only 21 years old?
23. Who wrote the path-breaking book, "On Death and Dying" in 1969 which educated and supported helpers who provide compassionate care?
24. Who was the American founder and leader of the Shakers in the 1770's who advocated equality, individual responsibility and peace?
25. What woman ran for president on the National Equal Rights Party, receiving 4,149 votes in 6 states in 1884?
26. Who was the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1983 for her discovery that genes can change positions on the chromosome?
27. Who led the fight to integrate military nursing services in WW II and then achieved the integration of the American Nurses Association in 1948?
28. Who was the U.S. president's wife who saved historic paintings when the British army burned the White House in 1814?
29. Who is the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963 after she discovered the structure of atoms?
30. Who is the longest-serving female U.S. senator, elected in 1986?
31. Who was the astronomer who discovered a comet, named for her, on October 1, 1847, and who was the first woman elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1850), and the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College?
32. Who was first black woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to District of Columbia bar in 1872?
33. What woman met Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the International Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 and worked with her for women's equality for the next half century?
34. Who worked with W.E.B. DuBois' Niagara Movement and was one of the few white co-founders of NAACP in 1910?
35. What woman attended the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, signed the Declaration of Sentiments, and lived to see women win the vote in 1920?
36. Who ran a plantation in South Carolina and successfully introduced the cultivation of indigo as a commercial staple?
37. Who was the first black prima donna soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, starring from 1961 to 2007, the first black singer to earn the top fee of $2750 for each performance (second only to Birgit Nilsson who got $3000), and winner of 19 Grammy awards?
38. Who became the first female rabbi in the U.S. and the second in the world when she was ordained in Cincinnati in 1972?
39. Who sculpted the full scale marble statue of Lincoln which is in the Capitol Rotunda, becoming the first female and youngest artist to receive a commission from the government for a statue?
40. Who was the first black woman symphonic composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra - her Symphony in E Minor was performed in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony?
41. Who was the Zionist leader who founded Hadassah, an organization working on health issues for Jewish people in Palestine, and also rescued thousands of children from Germany in the 1930’s?
42. Who was the female Brigadier General who was the driving force behind the establishment of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Building in Arlington Cemetery which opened in 1997?
43. What woman wrote the first novel by an American to sell more than a million copies, "The Wide, Wide World”?
44. Who was the friend of Abigail Adams who fostered political agitation with her satirical plays and then a three-volume history of the American revolution in 1805?
45. Who was the first Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 for her work in decreasing infant mortality and decreasing tuberculosis?
46. Who was the author of "Our Nig," published in 1859, the first novel by a black person in English, which described racism in the treatment of free blacks in the North by abolitionists?
47. Who was the first woman mountaineer to climb over 23,000 feet on Nun Kun in the Himalayas in 1906, a record unbroken until 1934?
48. Who is the first woman conductor of a large orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, appointed in 2007?
49. Who introduced America to French cooking in her books and television series from 1963 through the 1990's?
50. What woman has won a total of 56 Grand Slam tennis competitions events and 9 Wimbledon women's singles titles?

You can find the answers on the answers at the National Women's History Project website.