Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Sunday 17th January 2021 – #Teaching Pete Springer, #Review Alison Williams, #Scams Stevie Turner

Welcome to the blogger daily and to a small number of the blog posts that brighten my day…if you don’t already follow these writers then suggest you do…

The first post today is from author Pete Springer, who shares a wonderful story about Lily, a young student with a very determined attitude to a goal she had set herself.

Photo Credit (by Richard Galapte) on Pexels

“I’m going to take my family on vacation this summer, Mr. Springer,” said Lily, packing her belongings at the end of school one day.

As a teacher, I was used to hearing kids’ outlandish tales. “That’s nice, Lily. Where are you planning to go? I asked my reserved 2nd-grade student, half expecting her to tell me she had plans for an elephant ride in Africa or a trip in a spaceship to the moon.

“We’ve never taken a trip before. I’m going to take my family to Crescent City.”

Crescent City is eighty-five miles north, with a population of just over 6,000 people. It’s not a place that most people would dream of going on vacation. While I had always found Lily to be an honest child, I think it was the sincerity in her voice that made me wonder if she could be telling me the truth. “Really? What do you mean you’re taking your family?”

“I’m going to pay for the trip,” she said with certainty.

I felt another wave of skepticism, but I didn’t want to burst her bubble and tell her that 2nd-graders couldn’t possibly take their family anywhere. “Trips cost a lot of money, Lily. How would you pay for it?”

Head over to discover more about Lily’s mission and enjoy this delightful post: The Trip by Pete Springer

Now time for a book review.. and I am always on the lookout for intriguing plots, particularly when they come with personal recommendations.. This is from editor Alison William’s blog.

In rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine – a pressurised oxygen chamber that patients enter for “dives”, used as an alternative therapy for conditions including autism and infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.

Who or what caused the explosion? Was it the mother of one of the patients, who claimed to be sick that day but was smoking down by the creek? Or was it Young and Pak themselves, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night: trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges, as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and sacrifice.

Head over to read Alison’s review of Miracle Creek: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim reviewed by Alison Williams

And the last post today is an important message from Stevie Turner about the publishing cons out there waiting for the eager but unwary author.

Don’t Sign

Recently I read a blog from a self-published author who was thrilled to bits to gain a publishing deal. She had signed the rights to her book over to the publisher, and of course now looked forward to the royalties from many future sales.

However, I’ve been on a steep learning curve over the past 8 years regarding the integrity of small publishers. In order to satisfy my own curiosity I went on to Google and typed in ‘Writer Beware‘ and the name of the lady’s publisher. As I suspected, there were many complaints about this particular publisher regarding the amount of ‘set up fees’ needed and the lack of any royalties.

I’m sure most of us have been taken in by small publishers at one time or another at the beginning of our writing careers. I know I have, and now unless the day comes when I am taken on by one of the big five then I shall stay self-published. I might have a long wait, but I’m in no rush…

Along with unscrupulous small publishers comes unscrupulous writing competitions. Yes, I’ve been taken in by those as well. Some of them are just money-making schemes by marketing companies to fleece the unsuspecting author.

Head over to read the post in full and check out the links to a site to check if you are offered a publishing deal or writing competitions: Stevie Turner – Writer’s Beware

 

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will head over to read these posts in full… thanks Sally.