Earth Day Celebrated by Poets

Sublime Planet

Authors: Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball
Authors' Web sites:
Carolyn: http://howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm
Magdalena: http://magdalenaball.com
Photos: Ann Howley
ISBN: 978-1482054705

Reviewed by Karen Cioffi

Gearing up for Earth Day, Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball are releasing a brand new collection of poems titled Sublime Planet. The collection features relevant poems by Carolyn and Magdalena that demonstrate the interconnections of the world around us, including life, family, and love, along with the growing concern for the earth’s preservation.

This is a beautifully written collection that allows the reader to pause and take note of the world around her.

One of my favorite poems in the collection is one by Carolyn titled “The Giraffe:”

A tongue generous

as my head he reaches

for me, barriers no match

for his long neck, sniffs

my hair, kisses my face.

He unaware

he is endangered.

I unaware he might

be dangerous.

This poem is a powerful, yet simple tribute to a majestic creature that is now an endangered species. Can you imagine a planet without the giraffe?

Another poem in the collection that struck me is “Tipping Point” by Magdalena Ball: “[. . .] you eat and eat through four billion years of evolution now held loosely by one thread. [. . .] The future waits impatiently your decision.”

Again, powerful, and revealing.

Sublime Planetoffers moving insight into the world around us and into a world that is in need of attention, and it certainly honors Earth Day. I highly recommend it.

For those who aren’t aware of what Earth Day is, Senator Gaylord Nelson created this special day in the spring of 1970. The purpose behind it was to make everyone aware of all the toxins being spewed into the air and dumped in nearby streams or other waterways by manufacturing companies.

At that time, there were no regulatory or legal safety nets to protect our planet, our environment. Senator Nelson took a stand and his cause quickly caught on.

The earth is our planet, our home, our responsibility, and we’re not doing such a good job protecting it.

Sublime Planet celebrates Earth Day (April 22nd).

The poems "Giraffe" and “Tipping Point” are from Sublime Planet, a book of poetry in the Celebration Series coauthored by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball. It will be released before Earth Day. In the meantime learn more about Carolyn's poetry books (including that Celebration Series!) at http://howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm. And, learn more about Magdalena’s poetry and fiction at http://magdalenaball.com

About the reviewer:

Karen Cioffi is a multi-award-winning author, freelance/ghostwriter, and author online presence instructor. Give your writing and marketing efforts a boost with The Writing World newsletter. Get weekly tips and guidance, plus updates on free webinars, and TWO ebooks! Go to http://thewritingworld.com and sign-up today.

If Pinterst Is About Images, What Are Authors Doing There?

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter

I just started using Pinterest. It’s the new social network that many are saying “I don’t get it” about, just like they did when they first ran into Twitter. Now we’ve all been Twitterfied.

I didn’t get it, either, but I've been applying lots of general marketing techniques to Pinterest and that gave me a bit of a headstart. Now people are asking me what I think of it for authors and I’ve been telling them that Pinterest is like any other promotion or social network. If you want something to be successful, you have to promote the promotion.

An example. I got started by telling my author friends on Facebook that if they pinned one of my books to their account, I'd do the same for them. I have several different book boards (like bulletin boards where you categorize posts that intrigue you. One of them is "Books by My Friends" where I pin these books. I also pin images of gorgeous book cases, quotes, book-related cartoons, etc. on that wall to keep it interesting rather than just a wall of book covers, which they could find on Amazon.

I’m  offer you blog visitors the same deal, of course. But to work well, you really need to have a board showing your book cover—preferably with related images pinned on the same board.

We're all in this together. (-: Find me at www.pinterest.com/chowardjohnson. Also notice how I separate out the books I write in different genres to separate boards. And how I sometimes repeat a book image on two different boards. As an example, the theme of my novel is rooted in tolerance so it appears on my Tolerance board and on my Literary and Poetry board.

I believe it's little techniques like these that can make a difference to a network that at first doesn't seem innately suited to the needs of writers.

And yeah, its all about branding and finding those marketing angles I talk about in The Frugal Book Promoter. You have to analyze your own book to understand the possibilities for marketing it, for branding it, for targeting your readers.

~Learn more about the blogger/author at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Check out her blog for authors, too (www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com, www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com and www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com).  You can also learn more tips for authors from Carolyn with the hashmark #PinterestTip.

New Help for Writers Who Want Pristine Marketing Materials

Yay! My new little help for writers is on Amazon in all its chartreuse, red, and yellow glory!

Yep, you can now order a copy to put in your briefcase and read on the fly! It’s the Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy.

This is a booklet. It isn’t intended to be a complete reference for every sneaky homonym in the English language. For one thing there is a nice list of those pesky guys in The Frugal Editor (http://budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor). It’s small partly because it isn’t intended to be drudgery. It’s only 54 pages, so it’s a small, easy-to-read dose of some of the most difficult word trippers, not the ones you learned in the fourth grade. And it is written with a bit of humor to brighten the experience. If you don’t learn anything from it, send it back to me and I’ll refund your money.

Buy the paperback at http://budurl.com/WordTrippersPB. It is only $6.95. You support a friend (me!) and you brush up on skills for your writing career. What could be better than that?
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Posted by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, one of Smitty's greatest fans.