Compulsive Reader Newsletter - October 2024

Hi readers.  The October Compulsive Reader Newsletter has just gone out with a baker's dozen of new reviews including Beam of Light by John Kinsella (catch John Kinsella, our featured intervewee reading from and talking about Beam of Light here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4b5Q9iZrRwSper0vrvXlUD?si=mGha_ip-Qm-CTNHOT6nJLQ), Maze by Jennifer Juneau, The Book of Happiness by Joseph Mark Glazner, and Diane Mehta’s Tiny Extravaganzas.  We've got our usual big literary news roundup for the month of September, and two fantastic new giveaways.  If you're a subscriber it should be in your inbox soon, but if you can't wait, you can: View it in your browser.  If you're not a subscriber, sign up here: http://www.compulsivereader.com

Image: Abhi Sharma from India, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Guest Post: Who Am I by Erika Rummel

Who am I? It’s difficult to answer that question when you play multiple roles every day – housewife, mother, career woman, lover. Are you that caring kiss-you-better person, or that authority figure, or that gourmet chef, or that sex kitten?

Who am I? is the question Lisa asks in HEAD GAMES, but instead of looking inside herself for an answer, she makes the mistake of looking into the mirror of other people’s eyes. Don wants her to be his baby doll, Jim wants her to be his lover, and the spiritualist Santos wants her to be a medium to attract his missing sister.

HEAD GAMES is not only a journey into the strange and mysterious north country of Argentina. It is also a journey into Lisa’s head, the landscape of her crazy imagination and the only place where the existential question Who am I? can be resolved.

Is HEAD GAMES autobiographical? Yes, I’ve lived and traveled in Argentina. The description of the wild country on the border of Bolivia is authentic, as is the threatening political climate in the early ‘80s when Argentines lived under the iron fist of the military junta.

In some ways, Lisa is me. In others, she isn’t. Unlike her, I am suspicious of spiritualists and séances. And I wouldn’t fall for a creepy old man like Don, who wants to play sugar daddy. Lisa gets kidnapped in Argentina and lives the life of a captive in a Quechua family compound. Nothing like that happened to me. But like Lisa, I am trying to figure out Who am I? What do I want to out of life?

HEAD GAMES has a happy ending, and that’s what I love about novel writing: You can make it up. Lisa’s life is a fast-paced, thrilling story with a beginning, middle, and end. My life is full of inexplicable twists and turns going who knows where. Lisa ends up knowing who she is. I’m still searching!

PS: If you are into the question Who am I, you’ll also enjoy my novel PLAYING NAOMI, in which Liz, an out-of-work actress, impersonates Naomi Baum, a reclusive millionaire. She plays her role so well that she attracts all the passions meant for the real Naomi. Ted romances her. Miro plots her murder. Things are getting out of hand. Maybe it’s time for Liz to slip back into her old life and her old self? Or is it too late, and has she turned into Naomi?

Find more about Erika Rummel and her fiction at: http://www.erikarummel.com 

National Year of Reading: Three Paths to Print Event

 Today I participated in a wonderful group event at the Toronto Library with other local authors Jaye Ford and Wendy James.  The session was titled Three Paths to Print and we did indeed talk about our paths to print, our publishing and writing experiences, and the whole notion of what's in involved in having a novel published.  Thanks to the promotional efforts of Macleans Bookshop and Lake Macquarie Library, the session was well-attended with a lively, interested audience that asked us some terrific questions, took notes, and generally kept us talking past our allotted hour.  We talked about such things as the need for and role of agents, on editing and keeping track of timelines over a full novel, writers conferences, critique groups, rejection and tenacity, what our average writing day/schedule was like, and a lot more. One of the things that really struck me was, not so much the differences in the paths that we 'took' to becoming published authors, although of course our experiences did differ in many respects, but the similarities in terms of our interests, our writing processes, and our senses of what it means to be a professional writer. 

Black Cow Book Blog Tour Day 15: Author Showcase at Paper Dragon Ink

Today as part of the ongoing Black Cow Blog Tour, I'm the Author Showcase at Paper Dragon Ink talking about, among other things, my (many) influences and inspirations, my new projects, including a little promo on novel 3 and a very interesting project which has just involved the signing of a contract with an agent (more on that soon!), where I'll be when zombies take over the world, my kids' nickname for me, the one piece of writing I feel everyone should read before they die, a fact that most people wouldn't believe about me (it's true! I'll post up a picture one of these days to prove it), and lots of other really interesting tidbits.  Why not scoot on over and say hello (and of course also gain another entry into my tour draw).

Guest post: Basic Flash Fiction Writing by Dianne G. Sagan

My guest this month is Dianne G. Sagan, author and speaker. One of her books is a collection of 100 word flash fiction tales. She and four other women from her critique group wrote these stories over a matter of months. Each set of stories shares four or five common words 

Basic Flash Fiction Writing

Flash fiction is a term for short stories that are no longer than 1,500 words. Some are even termed micro- or mini- stories because they are no more than 100 words. It’s important to remember that each story must have all the same requirements as a longer piece – characters, scene, conflict, resolution.  Each flash fiction story must include the story elements that are included in longer pieces: setting, plot, characters, conflict, and resolution. Have fun with it. 

STEP I: Decide what you want your flash fiction story about. If you have a favorite genre like mystery, thriller, or romance, then write a story in that genre.

STEP 2: Write down some notes to get your story arc started. It can be an informal list of ideas to include in the story. 

STEP 3: Write a short bio of your main character and antagonist or villain. This helps you develop your characters.

STEP 4: Write a first draft of your story. Allow yourself to write whatever comes out for this first draft. Then, put it aside for a little while so you can come back to it with fresh eyes.

STEP 5: Read your story and see what works and what doesn’t. Clarify anything that seems confusing. Be sure to check for spelling or grammar mistakes. Share it with some fellow writers for feedback.

STEP 6:  Now, rewrite your story with the revisions and corrections you decided on from the original draft. Remember the key is to use a few words and still tell a good story.

For another interesting author interview, drop by Virginia Grenier's blog where Darcia Helle will be talking about her latest book.

Karen Cioffi's Day's End Lullaby

Day's End Lullaby
By Karen Cioffi and Robyn Feltman
BookSurge Publishing
Paperback: 28 pages, September 2, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-1419691577


Routine is the heart of any good sleep routine for young children, and reading a ‘wind-down’ story is perfect for that. It’s a moment of closeness and warmth that children take with them into the night and can provide the kind of security that not only leads to a good night’s sleep (every parent’s ideal), but to a broader sense of general security that underlies so much of the insecurity that comes with growing up. So a book that facilitates the end of day routine for young children like Day’s End Lullaby, is more powerful than the simple rhyming text and soft images might suggest. One of the things I like most about this storybook is that it ends with the text in sheet music – a song that you could sing to your child after reading the book and looking at the pictures. Sing it softly, in a voice that fades out towards the end, and a goodnight kiss is all you need to send your child off to a delicious slumber. The images themselves are in marker, crayon and acrylic, and effectively convey the transition between the high energy of day and the delicate rest of night. The use of rhyme, colour and music is perfectly proportioned, making this a lovely gift book for any young child.

Karen Cioffi is a published author, ghostwriter-for-hire, freelance writer, and reviewer. She is the creator and manager of VBT Writers on the Move (a marketing group of authors utilizing cross-promotion and a number of promotional strategies); co-moderator of a children’s critique group; on the team at DKV Writing 4 U (offers professional and affordable writing services, blog and basic website creation); and an acquisitions editor intern. More information about Karen can be found at her website: http://www.karencioffi.com

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Tommorow, Viriginia Grenier is hosting Margaret Fieland at her blog The Writing Mama. 
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Meet Margaret Fieland

Today's guest is Margaret Fieland, a prolific poet whose work has appeared in a myriad of publications. Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. Daughter of a painter, she is the mother of three grown sons and an accomplished flute and piccolo player. She is an avid science fiction fan, and selected Robert A. Heinlein's “Farmer in the Sky” for her tenth birthday, now long past. She lives in the suburbs west of Boston, MA with her partner and seven dogs. Her poems, articles and  stories have appeared in journals and anthologies such as  Main Channel Voices, Echolocation, and Twisted Tongue. In spite of making her living as a computer software engineer, she turned to one of her sons to format the initial version of her website, a clear illustration of the computer generation gap. You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com.  Margaret was good enough to drop by and answer  a few questions for us.

Tell us about what you write: I'm a professional Computer Software engineer – BA in mathematics, MS in computer science, but I've written poetry as far back as I can remember, though not with publication in mind and not with any level of dedication.

What got you writing for publication?  What really propelled me into writing for publication was organizing my poetry. I used to keep the poems, when I kept them, in notebooks. They were totally unorganized, and I could never find anything. Then I wrote a poem I wanted to keep, so I got off the stick and put them up, first on my computer, and after that online, originally in Yahoo briefcase, and later in Google Documents.

Why was the organization such a key factor in moving your writing forward? Once I had the poems organized and findable, I could finally submit, and I could look them over and gain perspective on how I was doing. What ended up happening was that I submitted a poem to a contest on a whim and ended up a finalist. This was so encouraging that I started writing more, working more seriously on growing as a writer, joined critique groups, etc.

What are you working on now? Well, there's my chapter book, The Ugly Little Boy. I'm also working on a rhymed picture book and a series of math poems.

Almost every writer is inspired by someone else. Does anyone inspire you? Lewis Carroll. My all time favorite book is “Alice in Wonderland,” which I reread every exam time when I was in college, as I made it a habit to avoid the library during exams. I'm also very fond of Carroll's poetry. I've got several stanzas of Jabberwocky and You Are Old, Father William memorized.

How long have you been writing? I've been writing poetry since my teens, but only with publication in mind for the past three or four years. As a story writer I'm pretty much of a novice, as I only started writing stories after I hooked up with Linda Barnett Johnson after the first Muse online writer's conference three years ago and joined her writing forums.  I'm 62 now, so that's a lot of years of writing.

What made you want to start writing? Good question – I started and became addicted. I really love writing -- and I just plain enjoy writing poetry, rhymed and unrhymed. I've developed my own algorithm for generating rhymes, which means that I often don't have to use a rhyming dictionary at all.  Besides, if I don't write it down it stays stuck in my head.

When did you start writing? Like many teens, I started writing (bad) poetry in my teens as an outlet for my teenage angst. Then later on I started writing poetry for the people I was dating, and after that for family birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, -- basically everything.

What's the strangest thing you've ever written? I don't think anything I write is strange {looks innocently up at ceiling}. I have written several surreal poems, and I have one I really like called “Machine A Ecrire” (French for typewriter), unpublished, in the shape of a typewriter. The sentences are “variations” on the stuff they had us all typing when we were in school.

Where do you get your ideas? Darned if I know. Some of the poetry is “inspired,” some is in response to exercises or prompts I dig up, some is from lines that come to me as I'm falling asleep, some from events in my life. Lots of places. One poem I wrote this week was inspired by some words in the comments in the "spam" folder on my website {grin}.

When do you write – set times or as the mood moves you? Since I have a full time job, whenever the spirit moves me, and I have (or can make) the time. The nice thing about poetry is that a lot of it is short and taking a couple of minutes to jot down poetry is pretty easy to do. Waiting for appointments is a favorite time to write. I've had good luck being "inspired" by those articles you find in waiting rooms.

When you're not writing, what do you like to do? Read, listen to music, play my flute and my piccolo, walk our dogs, do crossword puzzles.

Tour with VBT-Writers on the Move through April. New and famous authors, plus useful information.

Interview with Kevin McNamee

Today's guest is Kevin McNamee, author of a large number of childrens' books, including, most recently, The Soggy Town of Hilltop, and the Amazon listed If I Could Be Anything.  Kevin has dropped by to have a chat with us, and share his books.

Please tell us what you are most passionate about outside of writing.

Outside of writing, I would say that I’m the most passionate about my family.

 If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing with your life?  Right now, I still have a day job.  Unfortunately, writing hasn’t been my means to self-sufficiency yet. I’m still trying to find that balance between work/family/writing/everything else.  It’s a challenging juggling act, but so far, I’ve been able to keep all the balls in the air.

Can you describe the time you realized you were indeed a “real” writer?  Somewhere along the way, I stopped doubting my ability.  A rejection of my manuscript ceased to be a rejection of myself.  A rejection letter became an opportunity to send my manuscript somewhere else.  Comments and criticism became opportunities to strengthen my story, revise something unworkable, or something to ignore altogether if it didn’t fit with my vision of the story.  I was able to refer to myself as a writer without feeling self conscious and … oh yeah, someone was willing to pay me for what I wrote.

What is going on with your writing these days?  Right now, I have several stories in various stages of completion, one story that has been finalized and critiqued and needs a final revision, and a few that are finished and have been sent out to various publishers. 

What are your future goals for your writing? I’ve been focusing primarily on picture books and I would like to branch out to middle readers and Young Adult novels.  I have two middle readers in various stages of completion.

Describe a typical writing day for you? There’s no such thing as a typical writing day for me.  I try to do something writing related every day.  But what I’m doing may vary.  Sometimes  I’m writing new material, sometimes I’m revising, sometimes I’m critiquing, sometimes I’m researching, sometimes I’m promoting.  Due to the demands on my time, I’ve needed to adopt the philosophy of doing what I can, when I can.

Why do you write? I first started writing in the second grade.  I wrote a poem that was displayed outside the classroom and I liked seeing my poem and my name in public like that.  I found that I took to writing naturally.  Growing up, I was a constant daydreamer and would construct stories in my head all the time.  Eventually, I started writing them down.  Throughout my teenage years and throughout adulthood I always felt compelled to write.  Although there were many, many times that I put creative writing on the back burner, I found that I was still writing at my day job; memos, procedures, proposals, requests, and I was receiving recognition for it.  I realized that writing had been a constant in my life, but I wasn’t writing what I wanted to write.  Now I make sure that I write what I want as well. 

Can you tell us where to find more information on you? Website?  Blog? To find out more about me, please visit my website at www.kevinmcnamee.com or my blog at www.kevinmcnameechildrensauthor.blogspot.com   I also have a new child-friendly site with games and activities at www.kevschildrensbooks.com

Review of  If I Could be Anything

If you could be anything at all -- any zoo animal, large or small, what would you be?  In his book If I Could Be Anything Kevin McNamee explores this concept from a child's eye view.  The story uses simple vocabulary suitable for children ranging in ages from about 2 up to about 6, and rhymes, which makes it a joy to read outloud.  The story progresses from wish to reality with plenty of poetic imagery:

"Could I squirm like a worm living under a rock
or show off my teeth like a cranky old croc?"

Beautiful washy watercolours with lots of fun detail from toothpaste tubes to babies in strollers works perfectly with the text, drawing in the eye and encouraging children to think of their own images and wishes.  Overall, the book presents a positive message, encouraging children to enjoy the pleasures of the imagination while liking who they are, right now.  This is a lovely, well-designed book that children of all ages will enjoy.  Older siblings will particularly like reading the book to younger ones, and emerging readers will be able to read it themselves.  


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Kevin was hosted as part of the VBT-Writers on the Move tour.  For the full February tour schedule featuring both emerging and established authors, visit: http://tinyurl.com/yhkt7v8
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