Cynthia Carver

What is a book review?

What is a book review? A short synopsis of your opinion about the story you read. Amazon rates the book by the stars it receives along with how many copies are sold. Book review sites offer their own version of review guidelines. The sure-fire way to let an author know how much you appreciate their storytelling is to leave a review.

Twenty years ago I did reviews for a site that reviewed romance novels only. We had a three-

paragraph of three sentences for each paragraph. The first paragraph was our opinion of the female main character. The second included information about the male main character. Followed by the last paragraph as a short overview of the story. To this review formula, I added a fourth-paragraph that begin, why I liked/disliked the story.

The like or dislike opinion might include information about bad editing which had nothing to do with the author and all about the editing or publishing company. In today’s market where the independent author might have used an independent editor, I would not rate the book on the lousy edits but I will mention s/he might want to change editors in the future. Should I contact the author before leaving the review? Maybe, though the difference might not show up for six months or so.

Focus on the characters and storyline for a review with a short paragraph about why you like or dislike the book. Leave a rating without the focus on editing and your comment will be well received.

My books can be found on kindle unlimited.

These blog posts include references and links to products and services from one or more of our advertisers. I will be paid a minuscule when you click on links to those products and/or services. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

NaNoWriMo

What is NaNoWriMo? It is National Novel Writing Month. Embraced by novelists, authors, and writers. The goal is to write 50,000 words in a story format. Formatting does not matter, genre does not matter, and neither do your typing skills or grammar. This is a goal each person sets for him or herself, and all milestones should be celebrated.

My goal is to write 50,000 words in a new genre. The new to me genre is romance. Romance has a formula and to have a romance novel that means I have to meet the expectations of the industry. To reach the word count is doing what I do already, type 2,000 words a day. My stretch is writing to market and catching all the beats anticipated by the reader and demanded by the publishers.

Write-On, Cindy

YouTube/CynthiaCarver

My RoamingRavenRV YouTube trailer is all about my RV travels. This YouTube trailer is all about the author. October is Preptober for National Novel Writing Month in November. NaNoWriMo is a challenge many people use to write their novel, memoir, or something with 50,000 words in one month. Subscribe, click the bell and be notified when I go live for a writing partner. I’ll offer sprints and chitchat. Writing can be a very lonely profession. It doesn’t have to be 😉

Small Bit of Justice – deleted scene

Annie and Hillary continued to sit on the embankment. Dominick flashed his badge and identification quickly.

“You ladies are safe now.” Sly said.

“Show me your badge again. I want to know that it is real and not from the dime store.” Hillary said.

Dominick held it for Hillary to examine.

“See I knew it was f ning fake. No one from the damn UN would care if I got kidnapped or not.” Hillary said.

Two highway patrol cars parked behind the van and Sylvester’s truck, and one zipped around to park in front of the van. Dominick showed his badge to the officers and Sylvester produced his identification. “We’re looking for two women in a ‘70 orange MG. They go by the name of Tracy Richards and Lehana Jamison.” Dominick told the officers.

“What you want them for?” Hillary said.

“Have you seen them Miss?” The state highway patrolman said.

“Yes, they’re the ones who rescued Annie and me.”

“They did this?” The state highway patrolman asked.

“Yes.” Annie said.

The state highway patrol officers hauled the men out of the van.

“Two women did this,” asked the officer who took charge of the scene.

“Yes sir.” Annie said again.

“The idea that Tracy had put herself in danger irritated the hell out of me. Yet to see the men trussed up like goats at the rodeo makes me proud to know she has capabilities.” Sly said to Dominick.

“Officers, we’ll take our leave and continue on our search for those two vigilantes. Girls, I’m glad your safe and will be reunited with your families in a few hours.” Dominick said.

He and Sly returned to the truck.

“Let’s go.” Dominick maneuvered the truck around the patrol cars and pulled out onto the highway.

As they passed the next exit, there sat the battery to the van. They both laughed.

Roaming Raven RV youtube channel trailer

Please LIKE — SUBSCRIBE — LEAVE A COMMENT. Thank you!

September 2019

This past month continued being riddled with unexpected RV issues. Yellowstone National Park delivered eye candy galore. Bison and Old Faithful along with the Painting Pots delighted my imagination.
Dispersed camping in the Grand Teton National Park with friends made the experience more enjoyable. Follow me on Instagram: RoamingRavenRV and RoamingRaven.com for photos. The videos will go up on YouTube as soon as I can get it edited to a higher standard than my past.

For a USD $1 a month on Patreon.com/RoamingRavenRV, I post lens’ several times a day and other up-to-the current time postings.

AuthorApprentices is also on Patreon. Their blog is free on Patreon. The video content is extra.

Small Bit of Justice is in the final stages. It is on my ‘to-do’ list to have it published by the end of September. This revision took longer than I originally thought. I just had a thought, I’ll toss up some deleted scenes for your reading pleasure.

This is short and sweet, but I’m still putting in many hours a day on Small Bit of Justice with the goal of it being available this month.

Til our paths meet again …

Why did I collaborate The Missing Locket

Why did I collaborate with Renee Pellegrino to write the novelette, “The Missing Locket”? That’s an easy answer. Her story had an open-ended question that could not be answered and wasn’t the main focus of her story. The collaboration allowed each of us to write our characters in our voice. And what better way to find out what happened to a deceased person than to hold a seance focused on that person.

Our original goal remains the same, we want to offer “The Missing Locket” as a FREE read. We thought that would be possible through Amazon as we witnessed other authors offering free reads via Amazon. Our account doesn’t allow us that option. We’ve made it available for $0.99 USD.

When Amazon allows it, we will offer it Free, otherwise, we recommend reading it on KU just remember it is written in two distinctive voices. You get a sample of Renee’s voice as well as mine.

Am I open to collaborating another book as part of the Seance Series? Yes, I am. What do you have in mind?

Authors Apprentices Community

Creative writers releasing their inner authors is the motto of Author Apprentices. In conjunction with YouTube, they host their Free blog on Patreon. The nice thing about the Patreon platform you contribute what you chose too.

Our blog is free. The benefits of being part of the community are described within the tiers of participation. As the community grows our ability to prove beta readers, critique partners, and social get-togethers will also grow.

I will see you there.

Become a Patron!

What did you accomplish today?

For many years, I have focused on growing this or that business. Nothing has grown from many attempts. My recent focus on writing. Not a publishing business, not a website with merchandise for sale, just plain old writing stories, and typing the end. Then I begin again.

This is my recent epiphany. What did you do today? As I look back, probably busywork. When I ask, What did you accomplish today? A different answer appears. I want to know what I accomplished that propelled me forward to my goal.

Let me share an example. What did you do today? I researched and figured MailerLite might be a better choice for a newsletter distributor. Then I removed the old email distributor and set up the new MailerLite after creating an account, and the first campaign. Discussed the change with my go-to person, and hashed it out as to if this really was a good idea. Now, What did you achieve today? See how that changes your focus from the busy work and went directly to what you needed to accomplish. I put into place a new more productive newsletter distributor.

When I listen to motivational young folks on how they make their first million while I am working on my first hundred, it inspires me when they accomplish so much in a relatively short amount of time. Sunny Lenarduzzi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCbfiEcsGhU) and Steve Jobs (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/one-thing-steve-jobs-did-at-apple-that-will-instantly-improve-your-productivity?utm_source=pocket-newtab) Both removed the distraction.

Using the plan set out by Sunny Lenarduzzi and Steve Jobs, I’ve taken my writing to the next level. Stephen King said in an interview that he writes four hours a day. I’m not to that level of habit, but I am getting cranky if I don’t get at least an hour a day of writing time.

You might ask, what stops me from doing more? Power. Until this past week, I didn’t have reliable power to keep the computer charged let alone the phone and the tablet I do my 9 – 5 job. My creative moments were during the time I had unlimited shore power. In fact, during those times I failed at my exercise program because I lasered my focus on my writing and editing.

What have you accomplished today?

Monthly meandering

A lot happened this past month. I celebrated my two youngest daughters’ birthdays, fixed a flat on the RV and headed west. For a more in-depth look at my RV life and its recent challenges visit RoamingRaven.com.

The recovery of the author interviews on the external hard drive, that went swimming in the dog’s water dish, was a 95% recovery. The layering of the video is now in production. Tim Smith’s is in the final stages.

Mountain Bookfest canceled. Since Renee and I had several hard copies of “The Missing Locket” we gave the copies away in exchange for reviews. Ten ARC readers of “The Missing Locket” report, they want more. Yet, they have not left a review on Amazon in exchange for reading the novelette. If it is as good as they tell Renee and me, how will others know unless they leave a review on Amazon? The frustrations of being an author.

For a dollar a month, you can support Cleo and Joe’s dog bone habit on Patreon. You will receive several lens clips from us each day, and video, postings, etcetera not public on Instagram or YouTube.