R.I.P Anne Rice

 Anne Rice who has sold over 150 million books has passed away at the age of 80. She is probably best known for "Interview with a Vampire." 

                                              Here she gives some advice on writing:

She was obviously a very successful and popular author.

Tribute video:

What were your favorite novels by her?

She will be missed by her family, friends and fans.

Happy Birthday S.E. Hinton!

Today is the birthday of award winning author S.E. Hinton. She is most famous for classic Young Adult novel The Outsiders. The book has sold over 14 million copies and continues to sell about a half million copies a year.

I was stunned to find out she wrote this novel as a teenager. I guess if you have a great story to share age doesn't matter. Her teenage perspective may have helped her create something so successful in the Young Adult genre.

Her book was turned into a movie...

Several of her works were made into film. Probably the most popular being Rumble Fish.

Have you read any of her other works beside The Outsiders? What did you think? I have only read her most famous novel. Well, I will be back soon with a new post.

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network! Spotlight on a pastor, a clinical social worker, and a scientist

Continuing on my series..Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post.

This collection of writers sounds like a joke starting with a pastor, a social worker, and a scientist. However instead of a funny joke they are walking into the sunset after Yahoo! Voices closes.

Jack Wellman is a pastor who have enjoyed in reading over the years at YCN. I would consider him a friend. He always leaves positive and encouraging comments. His articles at times spoke to me. An example would be about his article on organ donors, which I have signed up to be. I have heard people use a Christian argument not to be one even though I personally thing it is good to be one. Then Jack wrote his thoughts which I enjoyed. I know he shares a passion for helping the homeless which is something we have in common as well. You can read his Yahoo!Voices articles while they last here.

David Reinstein is another writer I have enjoyed over the years. I've enjoyed his articles on guitars as a guitar collector and music fan myself. I have also enjoyed his poetry and unique perspectives. You can check out his YCN writings here.

Vincent Summer is an active member in the forums. His writing is mostly an eclectic collection of science based articles. I have enjoyed reading several of his animal articles. A variety f other articles of his have caught my attention from time to time. You can see if any of his articles interest you here.

Thanks for stopping bye come back soon!

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network! Spotlight on The Helpers

Continuing what I started yesterday. Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post. After read reading my last post a bit of my thoughts will be revealed in each of these posts first.

Marie Ann St. Jean

Marie Ann St. Jean new how to succeed at YCN. I call over 5 million page views with only 390 articles a success. What made her special in my mind was she was always willing to help. If you had a question in the forum threads she had an answer. Her answers might have rubbed some folks the wrong way. However her answers were truthful. In a place like YCN, where change happened it was nice to have someone to help.

You can check out her articles and learn more about this writer here. She is an expert on crafts, pets, and gardening to name a few.

Lyn Lomasi

I am sure many folks who wrote at Associated Content/YCN  had their favorite staff person. Mine is Lyn Lomasi. How many staff people anywhere would answer a facebook message in just a couple of minutes to answer a question about an issue? In my world not many but then there is Lyn! She always gave answers in the forum. A great communicator. She followed in the footsteps of some helpful people. However, in my opinion she was always able to bring it up a level.

Lyn was also a successful writer on the site (over 4.4 million page views). Perhaps being a writer on the site before she was staff gave her some empathy towards the site writers. She doesn't earn page view money since she is staff but you may enjoy checking out her articles. She has a lot of passions, talents outside of Yahoo as well. She is a great person! Unlike me who is losing a place for my hobby writing or at best some spare change Lyn Lomasi is losing her job.I hope things work for the best for her and I am glad I got to meet her.

Stayed tune, I plan to spotlight a few more!

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network: Spotlight on Don Rothra

Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post.

Before the site goes down and before all the work is taken down I wanted to spotlight some other authors before it is too late. I should have done this earlier so it is already overdue. Though I have tried to spotlight others on this blog from time to time in a play it forward manner.

Today I am going to spotlight Don Rothra who wrote mainly poetry at Yahoo! Voices. He is especially skilled at creating limericks. You can check out his writing at YCN  here. I picked Don Rothra to spotlight because he kept the Poetry Lover's thread going on the site. The Poetry Lover's thread was favorite forum on the site. A place I went to share my poetry when I published a poem on the site. Don I think probably published more poems in a month than I published collectively in seven years on the site. The thread was a place I could go when I wasn't happy with things at the site and feel better. It was my sanctuary to get away from the bitching or stop me from complaining. So, I thank Don for keeping the thread going and also for sharing his poems!

Don Rothra is continuing to write poems at his blog at sixstring.blog.com. Don also plays guitar which makes him alright in my blog!

Stay tuned I am planning to spotlight a lot more writers this month as I say farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network

Playing it Forward: On the Write Track

I try to play or pay it forward every now and then. I'm not very good at it. I might be better at leaving comments again something I am not very good at. Though I leave more of the latter than I do the first.

Anyway, Donna L. Martin is a writer and she is having a blog contest so I decided I would join in on the fun! I'm a good joiner. She is giving away a couple of neat prize packs that would interest writers and readers. You can check it out at her blog at donasdayblogspot.com. If you like what you see go ahead and follow her and give her a comment. You can also learn more about her at her website donnalmartin.com. Good luck if you join the contest! Thanks for checking her out and I'm glad to play it forward for another blogger out there.

Meanwhile, on my blog I hope to have a cool Country Music post up this week and I am sure some surprises so check in again soon.