Author Introduction 2020

Hi, I wanted to kick of the new year with a new thread for author introductions! (I'll post my own below this).

Please tell us about yourself, what you're working on and any interesting facts about you! (I.e. what hobbies do you enjoy.)

This is the author introduction thread for 2020.

**Please note:**

Authors please remember that you are introducing yourself, not your book. Tell us about who you are, where you are from, what genres you write in, and why you write about what you write. If you just copy and paste a book blurb you will not be added to the index.

There is also a reader introduction thread.

~R.R. Adams

My name is Rachael, but I publish under the pen name R.R. Adams.

I've been writing for many years now but finally created something I wanted to share in a published format, Avania. I typically write within the fantasy genre with a subgenre (sub-focus) on romance. Personally, I like the stories I write to have numerous genres. I feel it brings the story to life and makes it more 3D. The world gets a little clearer, the characters a little more human and the events a bit more real.

My goal in three years is to carve out an epic adult fantasy with a female lead. I hope that this epic fantasy will be enjoyed by multiple audiences. I only need to create the world first!

As for exciting facts: I love to horseback ride, and I work as a manager in a corporation. The follow up to that is: my horse's name is Rio, and I do not think I will ever write a book about business.

Why I write: I think it started as an escape like reading is an escape. Then it evolved into a desire to finish books where the author was taking a while --what felt like eons-- to complete. Over the years, it has settled into the urge to write untold stories and bring other worlds to life. If, as a writer, I can create new worlds that make readers happy, I'm happy too.

Thank you for reading my introduction! I look forward to hearing yours :)

~R.R. Adams

Hello, my name is Chris Grey. I'm a near 40-year-old writer, guitarist, singer/songwriter, idea creator, etc. I have a lot of interests, but my current focus is on writing.

Last December I published my first book on Kindle Direct Publishing titled, Forces of Nature: The Chosen One. It is book one of my epic fantasy series. Book two will be out in February. These writings began nearly 20 years ago stemming from a campaign setting I had designed for playing Dungeons & Dragons. After I realized I would never actually use the setting, I began using it for writings. I've worked on them off and on over the years, but have always put other things first, until now.

I also recently joined Wattpad, and have uploaded a couple of short stories. I just finished Act I of Volume I of The Creation of Xyphus, which is a free-to-read science fiction saga. It is a series of short stories explaining how a setting I'm designing for my WIP tabletop role-playing game comes to be. https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/211382382-the-creation-of-xyphus-the-supernova-o...

Thank you, and good luck!

My website: https://minus1digit.wixsite.com/home

Hello everyone, I am new here so please bare with me. My name is Rebekah Mitchell-Wagner and I am an author from Thomasville NC. I published my first book when I was 19, The Everlasting Love: The Beginning which was the first book of my fantasy fiction series. Since then I have published four other books and am now working on my sixth book at the age of 26. I write for the story its self and not for the money. I enjoy reading other people's works as well and meeting other people. Below are the sites you can find my books and my personal websites.

https://www.amazon.com/Rebekah-Mitchell-Wagner/e/B00Q28PUMM/ref=dp_byline_cont_b...
https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/786266-visiting-heaven
https://www.facebook.com/RebekahMWagner/

Dr. LaRonda Starling is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas, a National Certified Counselor, and an adjunct professor at a Christian university. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Master of Science degree in Counseling, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology with a specialization in Clinical Psychology. As a clinician, Dr. Starling provides therapeutic services (psychological assessment and counseling) in a private practice setting. Along with her clinical experience as a mental health professional, Dr. Starling has over fifteen years of experience working in academic environments; first as a staff member and then as adjunct faculty in both classroom and online settings.

Published Book

Be Still: Spiritual Self-Care for Mental Health Professionals by Dr. LaRonda Starling

Book Availability

Print - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Still-Spiritual-Self-Care-Professionals/dp/0998046213/
Ebook - https://books2read.com/bestill

Social Media

If you would like, you can follow on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/gracepsychealth

>2 RRAdams:
Thanks for setting up this thread for me Rachel, I’ve been having trouble doing the things I used to do on LibraryThing ever since my laptop died. Using a tablet isn’t quite the same, especially for stuff I used to do with several windows open at a time.

But I will try to get an index put together. ::crosses fingers::

In the meantime it was nice to hear about you. :)
...My EFP fantasy has a male protagonist, it’s my Pulpy Space Operatic romp (which I hope to have out in about a year) that has not just one, but two female protagonists.

>3 minus1digit:
Chris! Another epic fantasy writer. (We come in trilogies?)

I’m glad your life is finally in a place where you can get some writing done. :)

I strongly recommend that you add additional books to your Library besides your own. This increases the “findability” of your book, and gives other LTers a better idea of your tastes and so forth. For maximum effectiveness, don’t just add best-selling titles, because too many other people have those books already and so the connections to your book will be weak and diffuse. It works best to add at least a few of your favorite lesser known titles.

I don’t really know much about Wattpad, what’s it about?

>4 RebekahWagner94:
Nice to meet you Rebekah, welcome to Hobnob!

See... I was right, a triology of fantasy writers. ;)

Please see what I said to Chris just above about adding more books to your library. I also strongly recommend tagging your books with their genres and major themes.

I also notice that Visiting Heaven is showing up as being by a different author. Both authors are really you, I assume?

>5 gracepsychealth:
LaRonda, as a psychologist I am sure you are aware of the emotional effects that you have achieved by posting a generic bio written in third person. I am very curious why you felt that that tone was appropriate to a discussion forum. Do you feel that maintaining a professional and distanced manner make readers take you more seriously as a no-fiction author? How has that been working for you? Do you have any advice or experiences to share?

Howdy everyone!

My name is Chad Lehrmann. I live in College Station, Texas and am a graduate of Texas A&M. I spent about 11 years in the Christian ministry, including four years as pastor of a church in a bar. After a bit of burnout, I switched careers and became a teacher- my current full-time job. I teach Psychology, Sociology, and Debate currently, but I have taught U.S. and World History as well. All at the High School level. It was working with students that really inspired me to jump into writing because I frequently get asked- "What would you do if you didn't teach?" and I always say "write." Finally, I was about to turn 40 and thought- "What's stopping me from doing both?"

I first started writing educational leadership, but I did not enjoy that process at all. Being a fan of Stephen King, I was drawn to horror and thrillers. Having two daughters who are teenagers, I was exposed to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. I decided to try to write in the supernatural thriller arena, with a touch of young adult flavoring. I have LOVED every minute of the world building and character development- it is a true form of therapy, I think. I have self-published the first book in a series via Amazon just this year, and am currently in book two and it is going well.

I do have a wife and two daughters, as well as three cats. A dog is coming soon- but both my wife and I teach, so we want to wait for summer to have time to train it. Love the mountains and doing mud runs, read comics and collect action figures.

Looking forward to meeting folks!

>minus1digit Nice to meet you Chris- I think I have seen you posting on Twitter, maybe?

My book has been with me for about twenty years as well, but in a very different form!

My name is Charles Logan. I'm a gypsy, originally from New York, and ever on the road since. After writing for many years, I finally published a novel called TICKET. It's not a piece of commercialized literature, but some people seem to like it.

I'm a strong believer in writing what you know, and the book, like all my writings, are inspired by my travels. Unfortunately, the beautiful two weeks I spent in Costa Rica last year left me with little to write about. So instead I finished a novel that I originally wrote eight years ago about Las Vegas. I like to think of it as a piece of transgressive/literary fiction.

And now, while I'm overwhelmed with the seemingly insurmountable task of promoting it, I'm polishing up another manuscript for publication.

In my downtime I manage two companies, take long walks with my dog, and every once in a while blow off some steam with some friends down at the local watering hole. I enjoy motorcycles and photography and grabbing hold of every free moment that I can.

Hi Chad, welcome to the Hobnob Group!

I've added you to the author index, would you like to be listed by location? If so, please let me know what is the closest major city to where you live is. Somewhere you could get to for meetups or book promotion events.

I'm delighted to see that you have added more books than your own to your LT library. When you have time, you might want to expand that out more, but no rush. I do recommend that you add some tags to your book, though. LT doesn't classify books by assigning it to a set genre, instead it shows a "cloud" of the tags people have used to tag the book with. So it really helps if the only person who has a listed a copy at least tagged it with any applicable genres. Any other information that seems appropriate is an added bonus. (For example, the Rick Riordan books you've added have been tagged with fantasy, adventure, and young adult, but also greek mythology, and apollo.)

Being the minister of a church in a bar does seem like the sort of thing that might lead to burn out. I'm glad you have found your twin callings of teaching and writing. :)

I also love mountains, but I'm afraid I'm not sure what a mud run is.

What form has your story been around for twenty years in? I have a couple stories that old, and for one it was a basic situation/concept, that I later went back to and changed a lot, and the other was a plot outline, which has grown and become more detailed, and the storytelling style changed, but the skeleton of the plot, and the main character concepts remain intact from when I first came up with the story all those years ago.

Hello Charles!

Welcome to the Hobnob Group.

I have no idea what transgressive/literary fiction is, but I assumed it would be safe to list you under literary in the index. If there is somewhere else in the subject listing you think you ought to be, let me know. :)

Managing two companies sounds like it ought to be a lot of work, but I actually managed a company myself once, and only spent about a dozen hours a year at it. I couldn't actually pay myself, though, because then my company would have an employee, and I would have to do a whole lot more paperwork. >:)

I agree that promotion is a bit of a bear.

What about this new manuscript, is it in the same genre as the first one?

Hi, my name is Kirsty and I live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

My first non-fiction book, 'Finding Your Scottish Ancestors: Techniques for Solving Genealogy Problems,' was published this month (https://www.librarything.com/work/24253874/book/179165243) and, as a first-time author, I am still figuring out all the things I need to do to promote it.

I work as a professional genealogist and write about Scottish family history. My main interests relate to Scottish history and social history.

>12 KirstyF.Wilkinson:
Hi Kirsty, welcome to Hobnob!

I hope you will check out a few of our discussion threads. Or maybe start one of your own on Promotion. (It should be a popular topic around here: it seems like every author struggles with it.)

I have added you to the author index, but after checking out your author page I have a question. You say you are a first time author, but you have three works listed on your author page. So are those other two works also by you? If they are, no problem. If not, someone needs to separate your author page. I can do it, but I need to know for certain which works belong to you, and which don't.

My parents are avid amateur genealogists, and my observation is that what they do is mostly spend hours and hours pouring over digitized copies of old records. I'm not sure if that's what it's like for a professional, but I can't help thinking that someone who spends their days going through old documents ought to be a pretty good fit with this site. It's very data-centric. :)

What do you do when you aren't working?

Hi LShelby!

Thanks, I will check out some of the other threads.

The other two works listed on my author page are by me but they are actually my university dissertations, so not really published works. I didn't realise they had been added by the course tutor until I saw them there, but LibraryThing correctly figured it out.

Yes, I spend a lot of my working day looking at old documents, either online or in archives. It's a great job!

Lately it doesn't feel like I do much outside of work but I enjoy Japanese anime films and going for walks.

Hello Everyone,

I am an independent author, my first book of poetry: Lines by Leon – Poems, Prose, and Pictures was published in January of this year. I never thought that I would be a writer but became one out of necessity. Song writing and poetry has allowed me to make sense and accept events and situations in my life. I thought that what I wrote could help and entertain others.

I now realize the writing was the easy part...

I keep finding sites like this to connect with other writers and readers.

Leon

>14 KirstyF.Wilkinson:
Just because something isn't a "published work" doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be cataloged. There is some discussion over whether stuffed Bobcats and perfumes really ought to be cataloged here, but dissertations definitely fall within the original purpose of the site.

Since your author page doesn't need combining, that means it's okay to fill in the CK (Common Knowledge). Down at the bottom of the author's page is a place to record all sorts of things about yourself. If you don't want all that information online you don't have to fill it in, but adding things like country or place of birth make the page look more filled in and personable, and stuff like education and organizations are often useful for helping non-fiction writers establish their credentials.

I have watched a fair share of anime myself, although not as much as my kids. I hear that Scotland is an excellent place to go for walks. (All the heroines in my regencies say so.) :)

>15 LeonStevens:
Hey Leon! Welcome to the Group!

I have added you to the alphabetical and subject indexes, but I can't add you to the location index unless you tell me where you are.

If you haven't already you might want to 'claim' your author page. Click on the author name in your book's entry and then in the upper right there will be a box that says "Is this you?" Click on that.

I also strongly recommend that you add more books to your library. You want to pick out a couple dozen books either are special favorites of yours, or are in a similar genre to the one you wrote, and give your books some friends to hang out with. LibraryThing is a book cataloging site. It creates connections between books by comparing the libraries that they are found in. A book in a library all by itself has no connections.

It is also a good to add tags to your book. It helps LT users know what your book is about, and can increase findability.

Writing is often the easiest part, I'm afraid.

Songwriting leading to poetry and vice versa is something that I'm familiar with. A couple works on my author pages are songbooks I've contributed songs to. :)

Are the 'Pictures' referred to in your book's title photographs or artwork?

Hi Everyone,

I am the author of The Rabbit Skinners and When Moths Burn, two mystery-thrillers (the James Strait series, about a Herculean ex-FBI agent with Meniere's Disease), and the odd historical fantasy The Language of Bears. All three were published through KDP and are on sale on Amazon.

My day job is professor (associate) at a university in Kyoto, where I co-coordinate a large EFL program.

Nice to meet you!

Thanks for the tips! I'm in the process of getting things set up here.

The pictures are pencil sketches that either inspired or were inspired by my writing. Some became very short stories, others I included because I thought they were fun.

Glad to be part of the community!

>17 jjeids:

Hello, jjeids!

Um, are you aware that you have a different account under the name johneidswick?

I'm not sure which one I should be adding to the index.

>18 LeonStevens:
So there are sketches like the one on your profile page, and the book's cover all through the book. How...

... does the term "cute" offend? If so I won't use it. ;)

Doing a good job of setting yourself up on LibraryThing does take a bit of time. LT wants lots and lots of information. That's the kind of site it is.

Thanks, LShelby. No, I wasn't aware I had two accounts. My name is John Eidswick, so probably the one with the name johneidswick is best. I'll look into setting up and navigating LibraryThing more smoothly. It's a bit confusing to me at present. -John

>20 jjeids:
Don't worry, you are not alone. Plenty of people find LT confusing. LT is "feature rich", otherwise known as "How the heck do I find anything around here?" :)

I'm sure I would be confused too except that I've been here so long I saw most of those features being added.

If you need help, just ask. You can ask here, or click on my name in the header to ask me privately on my profile.

I have decided to start welcoming the people I didn't manage to welcome last year here on this thread. That way I can post a note on their profile saying, "hey, you have a welcome message in the Hobnob Group, check it out!"

So, hello Raimo Strangis, Welcome to the Hobnob group!

I strongly advise you to add more books to your library. You might also want to 'claim' your author page. (You don't have to, because all it does is create links between your author page and your profile. But I find those links very handy, myself.)

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite books too. I also love the movie, and one of the things I find fascinating about that is the differences between the two. What makes for a good book, and what makes for a good movie aren't always the same.

So.. what does The Kingdom of the Grape have in common with the Princess Bride?

Do you have any hobbies besides reading and writing? (I'm just asking because I'm curious, I'm totally okay with people who spend all their free time with books/stories.) :)

Hi, Afeez Tope Raji, welcome to Hobnob!

You have a problem with one of the author names for your books having been entered in the wrong order, or without the comma, or something, so that book is not showing up on your main author page with your other books.

(I did that exact same thing the first time I entered some of my own books.)

We can leave it as it is, and combine the incorrect form of your name with the correct form of your name, but it would probably be easier to just have you fix the name of he author on the book itself. I can't do that for you, though, you'll have to make the fix yourself.

I have entered you in the index with your genre listed as cultural history, and your location as Nigeria. I hope I got that right.

Your bio is very impressive looking. What do you do during your down time? (Do you even have any downtime?)

Dilip D James, nice to meet you! Welcome to the group.

I notice that you say that you've written three books, but you only have one book listed here on LibraryThing. What happened to the other two? Actually though, you not only should list those other two books, you should add several other books as well. LT creates connections between books by comparing the libraries that they are found in. No other books in the library, no connections.

You also might want to claim your author page. This is done by clicking on your name as it appears as the author of your book in your library, that should take you to your author pages, and there's a link in the top right corner that says "Is this you?"

Your book that you are promoting sounds interesting, but I'm worried that it might be over my head. Is it geared toward the layman?

I may be even more intrigued by your mention of the ecology of the Nilgiri Hills. I love ecology (and have more training in that than in physics). Do you know of any books written about that area that you could recommend to me? It sounds like something I'd really like to learn more about.

Welcome to Hobnob Denis aka E. E. Robson!

When I looked at your author page there were more works there than you said you had written. Are the other works showing up on that page also by you? If not, someone need to separate the page. (Probably me, but you can do it too if you are willing to learn.) In order for me to separate the page I need to know for certain which books are by you and which aren't.

No two members of your family born in the same country, hunh. But how many people is that? If there's only two of you, my own kids were born in that many different countries. ;)

It sounds like you know how to keep yourself happily occupied. How did you come up with the name for your blog?

Hello Borut, welcome to the Group

Nice to meet you!

All eight books in your library are written by you, and don't appear to have any other copies listed on LibraryThing. Nothing wrong with that, except that LibaryThing's library comparison routines can currently only connect up your books with your books. You probably want to add some more books to your library, to start creating a wider range of connections for your books, so other people are more likely to stumble across them.

You also probably ought to add tags to your book listings. Tags are another way to increase the findability of your books. :)

I discovered by going to your profile page that you are a translator and that you are from Slovenia. As it happens, one of the books in my to-write queue wants to be set in your part of the world, probably in about 1650ish (although its an alternate history 1650ish). Would it be possible for you to help me locate some good history books or historical fiction that cover that period, are set in your general area, and are written in/translated to either English or French?

Books that make people laugh sounds like something the world can use more of. I hope we can start getting you connected now, and if you have trouble learning the ropes, please do ask me for help. That's what I'm here for. :)

Bonjour and bienvenue egourm!
Welcome to the Hobnob group.

I put you in the location index under France. I hope that is what you meant when you said you were french. (My aunt's native language is french, but she's from Belgium. Which is also on the other side of the channel -- although not from me, I'm on the other side of the Atlantic.) :)

So how is that rewrite going?

I am pretty unusual myself, I think. At least, people I meet often tell me so. (Or sometimes they just give me really strange looks.) I'm not sure which is stranger, though, the O2 thingy or the dihydrogen oxide thingy. That stuff is a killer, and it's all over the planet! You just can't get away from it.

Speaking of which, Is it raining right now where you are? Where I am it used to be raining, but about noon it decided to snow instead.

Hello Yasmin Esack, welcome to Hobnob!

I put your genre down as science fiction because that's what it said on your profile, and I didn't add you to the location index because I don't know where you are. But more importantly, on your profile it said you'd written a science fiction book, but your author page lists five works. Are all those works by you? If not, we need to split the page. (Don't panic, I can do it for you, I just need to know which books are written by you and which aren't.)

Since you didn't say much about yourself in either your introduction or on your profile, I don't really know what to ask.

What do you do besides write?

LShelby (do I call you L?), thanks for the message.

I think I have separated the books properly. Only three are mine;

The Drunken Weed
Don't Upset the cat
The Banshee at the Bus Stop.

My family, four members, my parents (long gone) and a sister. My father was a flight engineer.

Can't say too much about the blog name, lets just say it results from trading sarcastic remarks with someone; comments like, 'It's raining here on earth, what's the weather doing on your plant today?' (rest assured, they gave as good as they got). I have some events and trips coming up soon which I plan to post on my blog about, not directly related to my writing but I may publish something on one of them in due course.

Denis.

Hey LShelby! Thank you for the warm welcome! I will be sure to add more books and claim my author page, thanks for the tips!!

Yes, The Princess Bride is a classic, and such an inspiration for me and my writing. I love how William Goldman tells a story, and how creative and unique he is with his characters! As I was writing The Kingdom of Grape, I would always keep in mind the adventure, humor and thoughtfulness of The Princess Bride. The two stories share the same charm and excitement of a classic medieval fairy tale. It really is the perfect first chapter book for young readers.

When I'm not writing, I work as a professional Red Seal Chef and I am also an accomplished songwriter!!

How about yourself?

Cute doesn't offend. Some are, others more deep, and others a bit odd. The cover art, "Hopes, Dreams, and Wishes" came to me as a representation of how often our goals seem at the whim of everything else but ourselves. Try to chase a bubble in the wind, fun but not always obtainable...

>29 Denscott:
I answer to Shelby, Shel, and L, when typed.

If you want to get my attention across a crowded room, "Shel" is the one to go for.

Four countries is a very decent spread. :)

I have split your author page, you are now E. D. Robson (1). Congratulations!

It looks like we properly brought your picture over when we split. And I have updated your author links in the index, but, alas, your author link on your profile goes to the combined page and not your new separate page. I don't think I know how to fix that. It may take a staff member. I will ask around.

However, now that you are split, you can fill in some "Common Knowledge" for yourself.

And I hope you will join in some of the other conversation in this group. To see a list of all the current topics, click on the "Hobnob With Authors" link at the top of this page.

>30 Raimo_Strangis:

Adventure, humor and thoughtfulness. I like those descriptors. :)

But I don't remember The Princess Bride striking me as the perfect first chapter book for young readers. It seemed a very grown up book to me, with some bits of subtle humor that I wouldn't expect a very young reader to appreciate.

When I was growing up my best friend's father was a chef. She said he hated to do any cooking at home, because that was what he did at work and he wanted a break from it. Is it that way for you to?

As for me, I am the mother of six children, now mostly grown up. I consider writing my profession, I have been published both traditionally and independantly. As hobbies I do webpage development, artwork, and crafts of various kinds. I also have been known to write songs, although I doubt I qualify as accomplished. :)

I have just created a new topic thread in the Hobnob Group for discussing 'Art & Music and Writing.' I hope you will jump in and share your experiences!

>31 LeonStevens:

I plan to respond to your message in the new 'Art &
Music & Writing' topic thread, but not, unfortunately tonight.

I'm making a birthday present, and the birthday in question is fast approaching so I've got to get off LibraryThing for now, and get some tatting done.

If you see this before I get back to LT, feel free to post to the new thread anyway. :)

Hello~Jacqueline Terrill here~I'm an Author, mother, grandmother, and wife. I have a dog - Cream - Alaskian Malimute & a cat named Oliver. I'm in Pennsylvania, and have been writing now since 2013. I've always wanted to write books, and had alot of down time in 2013 so I started attending Penn State and have been writing ever since...

To find out more about me you can visit my website at: https://www.jacquelineterrill.com/

It's a pleasure to be here, and look forward to chatting with all of you.

Best,

Jacqueline Terrill

hey !

my name is Christopher Stewart, i am located in Québec City.

i just published my first collection of poems, Journey to Understanding. i've also penned one science-fiction novel, almost a decade ago already, and two philosophy essays the following year, and a number of shorter pieces, poems, lyrics, and stories. i have a few projects in the works, including another essay on social organization (in french), movie scripts, and a rock opera.

and that leads me to my primary interest which is music. hopefully the snow will start melting soon here so i can enjoy busking season. i mostly play fingerstyle acoustic guitar, i and compose in various genres. one of my objectives for 2020 is to record and release a new composition every month. so far so good.

i also work as a freelance in software and website development, audio and video production, and graphic design.

looking forward to meeting you !

best wishes,
Chris

>35 Jacqueline_Terri7025:
Hello Jaqueline, welcome to Hobnob!

I haven't added you to the indexes yet, because I'm not sure which username I should be using.

Do you know you have two? Accidentally creating an extra account actually happens here quite often, but It looks like you might have done it on purpose, one "you" profile and one "author" profile.

But that's not how its usually done on LibraryThing. The author page is the author page, and the profile page is for you personally as a person listing your library. To create an author profile to be a separate author profile kind of defeats the whole purpose of being a LibraryThing author, which is to allow people to see what other books you have listed on LT besides the ones you wrote. Having only your own books listed makes you look bad to LT users, and it's really sad that you should look bad like that, when you actually DO have other books listed. Also, since the recipe book is only listed in the 'author' library and not the other one, it lacks connections to other books. That's not so good either. As an author you probably want copies of your book to be listed in libraries that list other books of a similar type. That's how LT's automatic recommendations are created, and how your library can pop up in other people's "similar libraries" list and so forth.

Lastly, you've just put me in a bit of a quandry here. I want to post to your wall... which wall am I supposed to post to?

I think you would be better off combining the two profiles, and getting rid of the extra account, myself.

But whether or not you decide to do that, I strongly urge you to add tags to both your books. Tags help inform readers about your books, and increase their findability.

Also you have a problematic cover image showing as the default cover on THE HUNT's book page. Maybe it was a temporary cover? Anyway, you probably want the other cover to be the default cover. The easiest way to fix this, is to make sure both the copies you have listed show the better cover. Then the majority of books listed will have that cover and it will become the default.

But if you do it that way, the unused cover will eventually be purged. If for some reason you want to keep that other cover, (I have that situation where my personal copies of some of my books, privately printed before they were published, had different covers, which I want to keep because that is the cover on the book on my shelf,) then add an extra copy of that book to your library, and choose the official cover on that extra copy. Once again, that cover will then be the majority cover, and will be the default cover that shows to people who don't own the book when they visit the book's page.

(If you don't know how to change your book's cover image, just ask.)

Once more people on LT own copies of the book, then you can delete that extra copy if you want.

So, do you have hobbies besides writing and cooking?

Have you started working on your next book?

>36 christopher.stewart:
Salut Christopher! Nice to meet you, welcome to the group.

Québec, hunh? In theory I'm from that general part of the country, because I was born in Montreal. But in actuality I moved to Calgary when I was a toddler.

In case you aren't aware, LibraryThing is multi-lingual. So if you have works in French, they have a home here too. :)

(Love the picture of you playing on your profile!)

Of the four works showing on your author page, 1 is not listed in your own library, which makes me wonder if it actually belongs to some other Christopher Stewart. If so, let me know.

May I suggest adding some tags to your books?

Your list of other jobs besides musician is pretty extensive. Do you think having worked on all those help you write science fiction?

BTW, we currently have a discussion thread going on Writing & Art & Music, maybe you'd like to participate? I'd love to hear more about writing a rock opera. :)

(Click on the Hobnob With Authors link at the top of this page for quick access to the group page.)

hey LShelby ! :o)

thanks for welcoming me ! nice to meet you too !

no book in french for now... there's that essay in progress that's written in french, but i haven't worked on it since december 2018... i remember hitting a mental wall and not being able to finish a chapter because of it... i was almost done though, only one chapter left after that one... i felt the need to return to music for a while, to reenergize, so i recorded a piece (Leap Of Faith - my profile picture actually comes form a frame exported from the video - thanks by the way !), and then life brought other things to focus on... i hope i'll find a way to finish it soon enough... i have a feeling i have to, but that somewhat scares me, and it's not helping...

that fourth book (Takers Economy) had actually been attributed to another Christopher Stewart, but someone offered to rectify the situation and now it appears on my author page (and an author disambiguation page has been created)... yet when i try to add it to my books, the search engine can't find it... it's not available in Amazonia because it's a free book... so i'm not quite sure what to do with it now... if i add it manually, then it will be listed twice in the database... doesn't seem right... any advice ?

as far as writing science fiction goes, i guess it does help that i'm technology-inclined... to give you an idea, i graduated in electrical engineering, and i have a natural interest for physics... so i was definitely having fun imaging gadgets from the future in an alternate solar system... and trying to figure out the timing of space travels considering the orbits of the planets, and the location and shape of the "window onto a new world", and that kind of details... yet ultimately in my experience the best writing comes from pure inspiration, and that doesn't necessary require advanced knowledge of the things that comes to the imagination... rather it requires trusting the inner voice, and developing good ears to hear what it is trying to say...

i see you have created a number of worlds yourself... i visited your website... i very much like the progress log ! i used to do this in a spreadsheet when i was writing my novel...

that other discussion seems aptly titled for me... i'll join in and we can followup over there...

best wishes !
Chris

Welcome, everyone! And shout out to LShelby for somehow being able to keep up with follow up notes/messages on everyone who posted.

Lots to digest from the above with authors from many walks of life, different genres and even different ways of responding to the thread of "tell us about yourself".

I think there are a lot of different threads that delve into interesting topics like the influence of art and music on writing. One that could be interesting is the influence of multilingualism on writing. I for one find that my English writing sometimes suffers because of my ability to speak a second language. I have had to separate myself from that language a bit more in order to properly write in English. Learning a second language helped me understand my 'mother tongue' better, but has created some grammatical habits that I wish I could shake.

Thanks to everyone for posting on the thread I created! I've had issues keeping up with it due to work obligations and attempting to finalize a book I am writing.

Hopefully, everyone has a successful 2020. Here's to another year of writing!

>38 christopher.stewart: ..."and then life brought other things to focus on..."

Life has a nasty habit of doing that.

"that fourth book... if i add it manually, then it will be listed twice in the database... doesn't seem right... any advice ?"

There are supposed to be multiple copies of books in the database, that is how LibraryThing works. When you add a book using the search box, that also adds a new copy of the book to the database. Then LibraryThing attempts to combine all the separate copies into a conglomerate formation (referred to as 'the work').

Even if you manually add six different copies of that same book into your library (this happens sometimes -- me, I max out at two), only one work should show up on your author page. If you see two, that means LibraryThing needs some help identifying that they are both the same 'work'. Just let me know, and I'll fix it.

"i see you have created a number of worlds yourself... i visited your website... i very much like the progress log ! i used to do this in a spreadsheet when i was writing my novel...

In my teens I used filing cards and had binders full of notes for tracking worldbuilding information. Now I store everything in a database. Most of the website, including the progress log, is run out of that database. (Although the online version is actually a backup and hasn't been updated recently, because I need to replace my database management software. The free tools keep having issues with how big it is.)

>39 RRAdams: "I've had issues keeping up with it due to work obligations and attempting to finalize a book I am writing."

Writing the next book trumps talking about writing the next book every single time. :)

Hi,

My name ini Dimas Rio (you can call me Dimas for short). I live in Indonesia. My profile can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/973525 (Goodreads) and here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/author/ref=mw_dp_a_ap? (Amazon).

I have been writing stories (privately, at first) since I was in elementary school. My genre of choice has always been horror (I blame my horror-obsessed brain on R.L. Stine whose Goosebumps and Fear Street books I devoured as a kid). Now that I am older, I think I understand why the genre appeals to me. It, strangely, actually made me feel braver since I had to force myself to keep watching or keep reading during the intense part. It made me forget the sometimes horrific things in the real world. It provides gateway to, sometimes, fantastical world or scenarios that I wouldn’t have otherwise dared to enter in the real world. The best ones in the genre has truly transported me.

In 2006 my first novel, “Dinner with Saucer” got published and the next year it got nominated for a national literary award called “Khatulistiwa Literary Award” in the “Talented Young Writer” category. In the same year I started to write a short story series for a weekly nationally published teen magazine. The series was called “Huru Hara Rako” (“Rako’s Chaotic Life”) which ran for three years.

Just last December I self-published my second book through KDP titled “Who’s There? A Collection of Stories” which now can be found and bought on Amazon. Just recently, this book got a positive review from Kirkus Review, calling it “entrancing” and “unnerving” (you can read the review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dimas-rio/whos-there-a-collection-of-.... Needless to say I was very humbled and grateful.

This book was originally published in my home country in its native language (Indonesian). However, because I realized that having an english language book can open up many more opportunities to be discovered by readers from around the world, I decided to translate my book into English with the help of a translator and editor. Now I am in the process of getting the book to be discovered by readers by sending out copies for review, and having book giveaways.

Being an independent author is challenging but also fulfilling and empowering since the author has the ultimate control over everything. I have learned and still continue learning so much from publishing my second book. I am really happy to be a part of Library Thing because I can learn even more from my fellow authors and connect with my readers.

Looking forward to having great discussions with all Library Thing team and members!

Regards,

Dimas

Link to my book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1676174109/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&a...

Hi, Dimas, welcome to the Hobnob Group!

I wish I could say that you'll connect with your readers here but so far you are the only person on LibraryThing who has listed a copy of your book.

But there are certainly other authors and a bunch of readers about, and maybe they will become your readers over time. :)

To make that a little more likely I strongly recommend that you add more books to your LT Library. I explain how this is done and why I recommend it in this thread

You spent a lot of your introduction talking about your writing, and only a little about anything else. What do you do when you aren't writing?

Justin Ho is a Singaporean, author and speaker, self-taught theologian, family expert, counselor, leadership coach, organizational consultant, financial consultant, who publishes nonfiction focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement. Obsessed with finding the best principles and practices for living a rich, fulfilling, and connected life, he seeks out and experiments with new and interesting ideas to discover what actually *works.*
In addition to raising awareness and funds to support non-profit charities, Justin desires to help people move from wishing for significance to being empowered to make a difference.

Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/justinhoguoshun
GoodReads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/justinhoguoshun

Hi there, Justin, nice to meet you!

I have noticed that although the author entered on your books is Justin Ho, you used the canonical name field to combine that with what are probably your Chinese given names.

(By some coincidence, I recently started a thread on what to do about Chinese names, in the combiners group. The majority of respondents advocated entering chinese authors as, for example, Ho Guo Shun and just omitting the comma. So that is what I have done in my library. -- But don't get excited by the news that I have Chinese authors in my catalog, I don't read the language, I just like watching asian dramas.)

I'm not sure what you have done is the best use of canonical name. Because Justin Ho is the name on your books, Justin Ho really also probably ought to be the name on your author page. Also I've never seen a combination of the Chinese and westernized names like that before, I'm used to it being the one or the other, so it looks a bit odd to me.

I can understand wanting your other names included, but maybe it would be better to instead put Ho Guo Shun in the "legal name" field, or the "other names" field if you don't like the implication that Justin is not legally your name?

There is also name combination to solve the double name issue, which might be a happier solution for you. L. Shelby is my penname, but I have also published under my legal name, so I have combined both names together, to say 'yes this is the same person', (this is standard LibraryThing practice). With a combined name, the name that is used most often is the one that shows at the top of the author page in bold print, but there would be a little notice immediately underneath saying that this author is comprised of two names: Ho, Justin and Ho Guo Shun. You can click on the link on my name above to see what that would look like.

I can help you do the name combination if you decide to go that route. Just let me know. (I will wait to add you to our author index until after you have responded, so I know how to put together your entries.)

Having looked at your author page, I am intrigued by the sub title "Why Money Is Not for Everyone". Is that because some people don't do what it takes, or because some people have no real desire to have more than they actually need?

Normally when people only tell us about the writing related part of their life, I ask them if they have any other hobbies. From your introduction it sounds like you may be too busy to have any other hobbies. Am I right, or do you actually do something other than writing and charity work?

Hi
My name is Roger Amir. I write and blog on spiritual matters. Just got my first one published on Amazon (The Naked 'I').
I am originally from Pakistan, now living in the US.
As part of my job, I and my wife and kids lived for two years in Italy. And I lived on my own in a couple of other countries too, before moving to the US.
I practiced law for many years (corporate / commercial / oil & gas). I knew for many years that I needed to write, but it took me a long time to actually start doing it for the purposes of getting published. Before that, for many years, it was just a daily journal.
I believe that the human race is like a bird with one wing damaged, so that try as it may, it cannot fly. And that damaged wing, that missing element, is spirituality. Somewhere down the line, we lost our spirituality, the connection with each other, the connection with the universe.
Now, I just try to explore that and how to recover that connection. I blog too about the same things.
I love travelling and would love living in Italy again.
Dubai is a great city, lived there for a year. Great experience!
I come from a very big city in Pakistan, i.e, Lahore, and I worked in an even bigger city in Pakistan for many years, i.e., Karachi. So, for me, big cities are OK. My all-time fav cities are NYC and London. London is the most magical of all!
Hope to make writing, blogging and speaking my lifetime career... and hope to travel a lot more.
Thanks for reading
RA

Hi Shelby,

Thank you for having me in the Hobnob Group. I indeed hope that I can get insights and learn from fellow authors here, and engage with readers. As with building my own readers, I will let it happen naturally.

Thank you for your recommendation to add more books to my LT Library. I will certainly do that.

I love watching movies, reading books, cooking (especially during this crazy time when we have to stay at home and work from home). For movies I love movies from Guilermo Del Toro,(especially Pan's Labyrinth) John Carpenter (especially Halloween and the Thing), and M. Night Shyamalan (almost everything he directed, even the not so well received ones).

For books, I recently read and loved Final Girls by Riley Sager, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena and The Rats by James Herbert.

I am currently reading The Chill by Scott Carson. I am constantly in search of a good horror novel.

>46 rogeramir:
Hi, Roger! Welcome to the Hobnob group!

My goodness, it sounds like you've been all over. I'm an expat myself, but I've never even crossed an ocean. Canada to the US isn't that much of a change.

You've added a great starter collection of books, which is wonderful, but you might want to try come up with a few more tags for your own book. :) Filling some of the Common Knowledge on your author page might be a good idea as well. You can list the places you've lived, for example.

Writing is one of the things that most people get better at as they get older, so don't fret about getting to it late. But I'm a bit curious about how well corporate law and spirituality mix. The impression I get from the dramas I watch, that's a difficult combination, but I've been hoping thats all exaggeration for effect?

So what big city have you not been to yet that you'd really like to visit?

BTW, I've added you to the alphabetical and subject author indexes, but if you want to be added to the location index, I need to know what big city you live in or close to now.

dio_chiro228 The Rats? That brings back memories! I'd no idea it was still available - remember reading it some *ahem* 40 years ago. Can't suggest any horror to you, however, since it's not a genre I usually read.

>47 dio_chiro228:
I'm glad you came back, Dimas!

You're a movie watcher, hunh. I'm almost a movie watcher, but not quite. Just as I prefer books to short stories, I'm afraid I find feature films painfully short. So I watch asian style dramas instead of movies. :)

We currently have a screenplay vs book discussion going, perhaps you'd like to let us know what your thoughts on the differences between movies and books are, and what works in the one and not the other?

I hope you participate in some of the other discussion going on here in Hobnob too, or at least check in every so often and post what you are up to on the "Authors, what are you working on?" thread.

You are also welcome to start a thread of your own, as long as it isn't a "lets all talk about my book" thread. Those, unfortunately, never work out because not enough of us have read each other's books yet. :(

To get to the Hobnob group page so you can check the list of topics in just this group (or to join this group and start your own topic thread), you can click on the Hobnob With Authors link at the top of this thread. (And the little up arrow in each post header takes you to the top of the page, so you don't even have to scroll.)

And maybe you might want to check the groups tab to find a group to ask for horror recommendations in. There are also all sorts of groups where people share what they have been reading. That's actually the most common Talk activity on LibraryThing. :)

>49 MHThaung:
Hey, Caroline! Glad you dropped by.

I added you to the 2020 author index with your genre as steampunk,
but since you do academic writing, you maybe should be added to the non-fiction listing as well. So just let me know what topic you want me to list you as, and I'll do that.

By the way, it looks like book three of your series doesn't have it's series information added yet, so it doesn't show up on the series page. Do you want me to fix that, or would you rather do it yourself?

You mentioned to me earlier that your steampunk wasn't very gadget heavy, so I'm wondering if maybe it's steampunk like my Across a Jade Sea is dieselpunk -- as one of my writer friends commented... you've got the diesel, alright, but where's the punk?

In my case, I am really just writing in an imaginary world with a early 1900s technology level. How about you?

Hello Everyone!

My name is Krutant Iyer. I am from India but am currently based out of Indonesia.

Within the past decade, I have worn the hats of a Publicist, an Advertising Copywriter, a Content manager, and a Banker in India, before I decided to chuck it all.

Upon moving to Jakarta, I got an opportunity to reflect on what really excited me. I finally found my true calling in storytelling. Not the ones that brands tell, the ones that humans do.

Although I have been writing Ad copy and video scripts for quite some time, the satisfaction of crafting a new world from my imagination, and keying in that final full-stop at the end of my manuscript remains unmatchable. I have self-published my first fantasy adventure novel in a series on Amazon.

I love reading Manga, watching Anime, and have grown up reading Indian Mythologies and playing video games.

Thank you for taking the time to read about me and I look forward to being an active member of the community going forward.

>51 LShelby:
Thanks! For my non-fiction writing, could you put me down as laboratory medicine please? And yes, I'd appreciate your fixing the series information on AQR3.

I suspect my steampunk may be the opposite to your dieselpunk. The setting is a regressed society, so there's an odd mix of advanced legacy technology and human-powered devices. There's no actual steam, and the science is completely handwavy but internally consistent (the latter being more important for me than real-world accuracy). But I had to categorise it somehow!

I haven't read any dieselpunk novels. Tried a short story collection, but it was too grim for my liking. Will take a peek at yours :)

>52 Krutant:
Hey there Krutant, Welcome to Hobnob!

You've done an excellent job of tagging your book, so now I strongly recommend that you add some more books.
I explain why this is important in this post.
You might also want to claim your author page. Click on your name as it appears on your book entry to go to your author page, and there you will see a link in the top right asking if this is you. Clicking on that will create a link between your profile and your author page.

I think its great that you've found your true calling. :) (Publicist to banker... do those even have anything in common?)
Your list of hobbies looks fun, and except for the mythology, very familiar. I live in a household of manga reading, anime watching video game players. :)

Is your fantasy adventure inspired by your passion for Indian Mythology at all?

>53 MHThaung:
I have added you to the non-fiction category in the index, and added the third book to the series. (Do you want the story collection displaying between books 1 and 2? Because we can move it to the end, or whatever.)

By the way, one thing about LibraryThing is that we DON'T have to force our books into pre-defined marketing categories. Instead we use descriptive tags. So you can tag your books "steampunk" if you feel like it, but you can also tag them "regressed society", "legacy technology" and anything else you can come up with that gives a more vivid picture of what they are really about. (I strongly recommend that you tag them as something.)

The technology of my series does sound backwards of the technology in yours, (interesting sounding setup by the way) but one thing that probably isn't backwards is tone--I don't do grimdark. It sounds like you aren't into grimdark either. :)

We might be good candidates for a book swap.

>55 LShelby:

Thanks for the advice on tags!

Absolutely right, I don't do grimdark. I entered AQR1 in the 2019 SPFBO contest and resolved to check out the other 299 entries. And oh, my! Although I found a lot of stories to enjoy, so many of them seemed (to me) to be full of nasty people doing horrible stuff to each other for no reason I could discern. I've now tagged myself as a super-wimpy reader *blush.*

What sort of book swap are you thinking of? And by the by, I happen to be running a free promotion today and tomorrow for AQR1. ;)

I don't consider myself wimpy, I just consider myself not interested. I read fiction for fun. If I am not finding something fun, why read it?

I was not aware of this SPFBO contest, but if thats what the stories are Mostly like, maybe I should continue to not pay attention to it?

>57 LShelby:

The SPFBO is a very mixed bag of fantasy books - it's first come, first serve for entries. Because of that, I'm not sure I'd use the list as a starting point for something to read (I only did so this time because I was entering), but the reviews tend to be objective, which may be useful.

Hey there, Shelby!

Thank you for the wonderful message. :)
As advised, I will claim the Author page following the steps mentioned.
Working as a Publicist was as much fun as working in a Bank, until it became a routine. :)

To answer your question, even though I draw a good amount of inspiration from Indian Mythology, I also think that the Indian Mythology space is cluttered with reimagination or retelling of epics or Avatars. I did not wish to go down that route.

With my novel, The Journey Beyond Bhuloka (Earth), I tried to spin a story from scratch, using fascinating elements from Indian Mythology.

Hello, Hobnob with Authors!

After working decades in journalism, I turned to crime. I'm writing the fourth novel in the suspense series the Compass Crimes. I serve on the Arts and Humanities Advisory Board for Southeastern University and I am a member of the Florida Writers Association and Sisters in Crime. An instrument-rated private pilot, I'm also a reporter for General Aviation News. I read everything except comic books and erotica. My favorite part of developing a novel is the research phase where I do field research and meet experts. Need to know how to field strip an M-16? Want to know what it feels like to ride in the engine compartment of a trawler while underway? Want to know about the Felony Murder Rule? I've learned from experts.

I write suspense/crime stories about women whose lives have been overturned because of a crime. The Compass Crimes series has different heroines and an ensemble cast of law enforcement pros and people from other walks of life. Strong women, strong stories. One of my favorite movies is Ever After, the Drew Barrymore version of Cinderella. At one point in the movie, Cinderella rescues the Prince and later she rescues herself before the Prince rides to her rescue. This is what girls should see instead of the typical Disney helpless princess kind of story in my opinion.

My non-fiction writing is all about aviation. Only 6% of pilots are women, so it's important for women pilots to lead by example and invite young girls and young ladies to explore this wonderful hobby or career.

>59 Krutant:
From the sounds of it, most things become routine fairly quickly for you. Fortunately writing fiction, although it can be routine if you let it, has unlimited potential for doing new things. :)

Your approach to incorporating mythological influence sounds pretty interesting. I hope you will stick around and join in some of the discussion threads.

Also you may want to submit your book for entry on my big list of all the books written by Hobnob Authors thread, which I have only just started getting together for the year, so at the moment it looks unfortunately blank.

>60 JoniMFisher:
Hi there Joni!

When I added you to the Author Index, I couldn't add you to locations, because I didn't know where in the USA you are. What we usually do for location is name the nearest large city -- somewhere you could get to for promotional events or meetups.

I'd like to invite you to join the discussion threads, keep us updated as to how your work is going in the Authors, What are you working on? thread, and submit your stories for addition to the list of books by Hobnob Authors.

Hi, my name is Winnie Birdsong but I write under the name WK Birdsong. I am a retired educator and am finally able to write full time. I just self published Lost Art on Amazon.com and you can find out what it's all about there, or in my books section in LT. I love research and well researched books. In writing historical fiction I attempt to write believable characters that reflect the time period but try not to include off-putting, or lengthy historical facts. I know my eyes glaze over if an author just wants to show off that they've done hours and hours gleaning the facts about a certain time period. As a reader, I just want to get to the bloody story!!
I look forward to getting to know the members of this group and discussing literature.

>63 WKBirdsong: "I know my eyes glaze over if an author just wants to show off that they've done hours and hours gleaning the facts"

I just want to say in response to this...
Sister!

Also, I appreciate that you really did introduce yourself and not your book, but could you let me know for sure if it's historical fiction or not (it sounded like it was) so I can add you to the genre index with confidence ?

Also, in order to add you to the location index I would need a general idea of where you live. Closest major city is what we usually go by. :)

Hi everyone!

I am a published author in Annapolis, Maryland. Like everyone, I'm trying to adjust to life during a pandemic. Maryland is under lockdown, but at least we can go outside if we follow social distancing rules. I run a monthly writing workshop that has transitioned to Zoom. Balticon, the biggest local SFF convention, will also be held on Zoom this year.

I just finished a near-future cyberpunk trilogy in which an unemployed bipolar journalist and her hacktivist friends try to stop a giant media corporation and a corrupt president from controlling the world. The first book, Sleep State Interrupt, was a Compton Crook finalist for best first speculative fiction novel. The final book comes out Sep. 1. I've also written a couple of alternate history novels and a hodgepodge of wildly differing short stories, and am working on other books.

I started a new job in January with Defenders of Wildlife, which meant a daily bus commute to DC. Now I'm working at home, which is obviously closer, but a little lonely. My wife is also working from home; we've set up offices on separate floors. We have two miniature schnauzers who seem overjoyed we're here all the time.

For more, see my website: https://www.tcweber.com/

Cheers,

T.C. Weber

Hi Ted,

Thanks for dropping by!

I listed you in the author subject listing under science fiction and under thriller. Does that sound about right?

LShelby, I live in northern California about 100 miles north of Sacramento. And yes, it is a historical novel (of suspense) involving two timelines. Thanks for your response and the heads-up email.

Hi! My name's Daniel, I'm an Aussie-Viet author who writes many genres :D

>67 WKBirdsong: I've got you added to the indexes.

Welcome to the Hobnob group! :)

I highly recommend that you add tags to your book, and that you add more books besides your own.

Also, when you add characters to the book page, they are supposed to each get their own line. (There is a little widget that appears in edit mode for adding more lines)

This is because each character becomes a link to a page that will list all the books that character appears in. (Or any other character of the same name.) There is also a place on that page to add a character description.(Although please only do so if the character name is unique to your character. I have a character named Silver and it would be highly inappropriate for me to put his description in on the Silver character page, as most of the characters listed there are some other person entirely--not all of them are even human.)

Since you apparently share two of my pet peeves when it comes to historical fiction, I'm really looking forward to getting to know you better. I hope you will check out and participate in the discussion threads. Or maybe start one if your own.

What sort of educating did you do, when you were an educator?

(The cover of your book looks pretty creepy, BTW!)

>68 DanielNewwyn:
Hello, Daniel!

I strongly recommend tagging your book, and adding books by people other than yourself to LibraryThing. This will make your book listing on LibraryThing more effective. You may also want to claim you author page.

I'd also like to find out a bit more about you so that I can add you to our Author index.

Firstly, "many genres" is a bit vague. Could you pick your top three? What about genres of books you have currently available to the public? (There is only one book in your library, and it appears to have been written by you, but without tags or a book description, I have no idea what its about.)

Secondly, if I am to list you in the 'by location' section I need to have some idea where you live. (We usually go by nearest large city.)

And then I usually ask some 'getting to know you type questions', but those are just so we can get to know you, not for the indexes. Do you have any hobbies besides writing? A day job? Family?

As a final note, it says not to start a thread that is solely about your book in the group description, and yet you started two. Please be more careful as you go about promoting your book. If you don't make a good impression on the people you meet, your efforts will be wasted.

Hi there,

My name is Amy :) I go by A G Pointer for all things published or Haphazard Writer on my blog where I post current projects.

I am from Kent in the U.K originally, though for university and job reasons have spent many years in Aberystwyth, which remains my favourite town and a place I long to return to one day. I moved to Belfast briefly to complete my MA and now I have (reluctantly) returned to Kent where I work and train as a teacher. Kent is not bad so much as just not the other places I remember so fondly like Aber and Belfast.

I am a keen amateur photographer and love to go hiking around the coast and countryside taking photos, usually more than my poor outdated phone can handle. I am unashamedly obsessed with Studio Ghibli movies and pretty much any anime series that strikes a similar tone, and equally, heavy metal that may be branded by some as 'tacky', but the more lyrics about pagan gods and the like, the better as far as I am concerned, probably because I have always been in love with mythology and historical cultures. At one point, I wanted to be an archaeologist, but then I discovered that would require me to have good connections, which I didn't, because I grew up in a working class household.

Nowadays I have a busy work life, and somehow also try to juggle my writing with volunteering commitments in my local community. Current projects include: a trans-mental health event I have planned as part of a team in my local area which has sadly had to be postponed due to that which must not be named (because I don't want to hear one more thing about that damned you know what) but will with any luck be just as fantastic in the summer when we plan to make it bigger and better for all involved; on the writing side of things, I am running my blog, where I post a mixture of essays, poetry and excerpts from ongoing writing projects as well as sporadic photography when I get the chance. Right now I am working on a fantasy series concerning witches, witch hunters, and a centuries old rebellion finally making movement against an oppressive regime - which is very much a project in motion and nowhere near completion so I will stop there with that one. I have a number of other ideas in the works and have been working on a second edition of my debut novel but again - I will save that for another time.

As you have perhaps guessed by now, I am a big time fantasy fan. I absolutely love authors like Tad Williams, Ursula K Le Guin (who has a chapter in my MA thesis and a special place in my heart) and Alison Croggon, among others, they remain some of my greatest inspiration. I tend to jump between YA fantasy and high/low fantasy in terms of both reading and my own writing, though I will occasionally dip into the Gothic - I once saw a disparaging review of Charlotte Dacre's 'Zofloya' on Good Reads and honestly yes I get it, it seems like a terrible novel, but if I ever get the chance I will explain exactly why it is actually a fantastic example of women's writing in the genre and I love it (it is, as I would call it via my tumblr account, my trash baby, and no one else can say anything bad about it).

I feel like I have rambled on forever now so I will stop talking about myself for a moment and finish off by saying I am here to meet other authors and find advice, and at some point I would like to reach out to find beta readers and reviewers when I am ready to release my writings into the wild...

Hey - Joanna Walden here, I'm a new author from New Zealand!

I've been working on my transformation travel memoir The Inside Hustle. A Mystical Misfit's Travel Adventure Into The Unknown for over a decade which just released on Amazon & iBooks.

My background has been global advertising for twenty years, but my passion has always been personal growth and transformation, energy and consciousness.

This is a very exciting time of great change on the planet and I am stepping up to support people and start sharing my voice and wisdom with a wider audience. So far people are having visceral changes from reading my book which helps to recalibrate your energy as you read it and is incredibly supportive in these times.

You can find out more about me and my work at:
https://www.joannawalden.com/
https://www.facebook.com/iamjoannawalden/
https://www.instagram.com/iamjoannawalden/

Thanks for your interest!

Joanna

Good to see lots of authors joining up. It will keep LShelby busy and out of trouble...

>71 A.G.Pointer:
Hello Amy, Welcome to Hobnob.

When we say a similar tone as Studio Ghibli, are we talking the same tone as Kiki's Delivery Service or the same tone as Princess Mononoki? >:)

May I suggest adding tags to your book? Tags are a good way of indicating genre, major themes and other important information. And they will increase the findibility of your work.

There are a number of other authors around for you to meet, but sometimes it takes a bit of reaching out. The introduction thread gets watched by a few people, but so many folks post once and never return, that only I consistently respond to posts here. People are more likely to respond if you post in the various discussion threads.

You can start your own discussion threads too. Just make sure they have a topic that is of sufficiently general interest for other people to also have something to say. What makes a book a good example of a woman writing fantasy might work well as a topic.

Also, I'd rather hear people ramble about stuff they are still in the middle of writing, then the stuff they've finished, because it makes me feel like I'm listening as a fellow author, rather than being sold to as an audience. We even have a dedicated thread for keeping everyone updated on works in progress, it's called Author's What are you working on? Feel free to ramble there about your current projects, (Unless, of course, you are the sort of writer who loses steam when they talk about things they haven't finished yet.)

I have added you to the author index under YA and Fantasy. I hope I got that right. If you post to the List of Books by Hobnob Authors thread with the title of your book and the formats it is available in, I will add you to that one too.

>72 JoannaWalden:
Joanna, nice to meet you.

So if your book is a transformation travel memoir, does that make it about how travel changed you, or is the travel part of that referring to an entirely inward journey? Or was it travelling in order to find ways of changing yourself?

I strongly recommend adding tags to your book. Also, it is better for your book if you add books besides your own to your library. This creates connections between your book and other books.

So, of all the places you've been to, which are your favorites?

I added you to the author index under nonfiction, and then got stuck for where to list New Zealand. (You are our first New Zealand author.) Normally I go by continent first, and then by country... I do have an Oceana category, so I'd have somewhere to put Indonesia. Or do you think people are more likely to find you if I group you with Australia?

>73 LeonStevens:
:)

Whenever I run out of things to do here, I go back to the Herculean task of manually adding all the asian dramas I've watched to my catalog.

If I ever get caught up on those, I might actually try cataloging all the books in the house, instead of just adding them as I read them. There are way more of those than there are dramas, but I can use the LibraryThing app to scan them in, so it would go much faster.

Thank you, I would say that's the right place for me :) I am still getting to grips with this site but I will get there, I will definitely check out the other threads you mentioned.

As for Studio Ghibli, I love both of those movies for very different reasons so the answer is probably both and it depends on my mood, the past few weeks in lockdown I have been watching a lot of slice of life anime and movies, I re-watched Kiki's Delivery Service just last week actually I'd say Howl's Moving Castle is still my all time favourite movie.

Lovely to meet you LShelby :)

Hi
I'm an indie author who like many people has always wanted to write novels. One of the most memorable experience when writing my first was the way characters seemed suddenly to take on a life of their own, and do things that required me to restructure the entire plot. Another was changing the gender of one intermediate character in my second and discovering that absolutely everything in every scene they were in changed.
In my day job I'm an academic. I initially thought I wrote out of dissatisfaction with a world described through interviews, statistics and charts. Surely what matters to people is to do with emotions, compassion and imagination? Now maybe I write more for me, to learn the new things that come out of trying to make something you think you already know about work on the page, and finding that you don't actually understand it at all.

Is this the kind of experience others have?

best wishes

Peter

>77 A.G.Pointer:
I like them both for different reasons also, so I totally know where you are coming from. :) As for Howl's Moving Castle, the book by Dianna Wynn Jones was a favorite of mine long before Studio Ghibli did their adaptation, which is very different from the original. So there's always this sense of double-vision when I watch it, which makes it harder for me to enjoy it for what it is. I keep being distracted by what it isn't. :(

>78 ptg:
Hello Peter, welcome to the Hobnob Group!

Which experience? Having character develop personalities that force me to rewrite my plots? This has never actually happened to me, although I understand that it is normal operating procedure for several of my writer friends. My characters have managed to surprise me on occasion, but somehow as much as the plot as I already knew about remains the same.

If you are talking about the story changing as it hits the page... for me they don't change in intent but they dobget better. I never "wanted to be a novelist" I never really thought that much about where books come from. I just told myself stories in my head. Then one day (I was eleven or twelve) I tried to write the story in my head down... and I was able to do so much more with it: More complex plots, more elaborate worldbuilding, and if I wrote down all the good lines, then I wouldn't forget them. I've been in love with the entire process of writing fiction since then. Everything but copyediting, which I find tedious. (Being a non-visual person, most of the errors I am fixing at that stage are things that I myself would read right past without even noticing.)

You didn't mention it, but it looks like you are a non-fiction writer as well. If not, we need to divide your author page, so I'll wait until I get a confirmation on this before adding you to the author index. Are all the works listed on your page by you? (I'm guessing yes, but I've learned that it is best to double-check.

You also didn't tell us what your novels are about, which is fine, but when I get around to adding you to the author index I'll need you to pick one to three genres that seem to best cover the ground for your work as a whole. Also if you want to be added to the location portion of thevindex I need to know where you are. (Not too specifically, we usually go by nearest large city.)

Would you be willing to tell us anything else about yourself? Profession, hobbies, family, travels?

Hi, my name is Joyce Davis. I am 61 years old, a mother of one son, and a grandmother of one grandson, both named Brandon. I am the sixth child of seven kids. I am originally from Detroit, MI. I now live in Southern California. My mom moved all of us to LA after she and my dad got a divorce in 1974.

I am usually an impatient person. Writing is the only thing that I don't get antsy about. I love words and putting them together to express the feelings in my characters, which are really my feelings. Every character that I create has a little bit of my own personality, either noticeable or suppressed. I have written two books in what will be a four-book series in what can be called historical sci-fi. The titles of my books are The Lebensborn Experiment and the Lebensborn Alliance.

That's all you're gonna get out me. I'm not comfortable talking about myself. So if you want to know more, just ask.

I love historical novels. What time period is it and is there time travel involved? I am not sure how this works. I was replying to the author who wrote a historical suspense novel, but it didn't place my reply under hers. So how does this work, please explain. I love Steven Saylor who writes detective stories about ancient Rome

Hello, group!

I am a poet by nature, who just published my debut adult literary fiction novel, After the Dash, this month! It is actually genre-bending, but for the publishing world, I am forced to choose a genre. Thus, the literary fiction. ;) I also have a book of poetry I self-published a few years ago hanging out in the webernets.

I'm a Georgia girl, born and bred, though I lived in Ohio for a few years and have traveled around quite a bit. I'm a coffee addict, and I adore my dog babies. I spend a lot of time thinking about time. I'm a daydreamer, a list maker, and a bit (just a skosh) of an artist. I also just had to Google "skosh."

>81 Joyce1915:
Hello Joyce, welcome to Hobnob!

It looks like one of your books ended up on the page of some other author (unless you also write nonfiction books and make videos). This is because the author's name on the only copy in the system lacks the middle name.

Since that book is yours, you should be able to fix this by first editing the book to add your middle name, and then on the book page clicking recalculate author/title near the bottom of the sidebar.

The other possible approach is to split the Joyce Davis page, and alias your Joyce Davis page and your Joyce Yvette Davis page together. If thats the way you want to go, I can do it for you, just verify for me which works on the Joyce Davis page are yours. (Sometimes academic writers arrive on the site and are startled to discover that their academic papers have been added to the site, or whatever, so I have to check.)

If you didn't understand what I just said, please ask for clarifications. We LTers know that the site is confusing for newcomers. :)

Historical scifi is an interesting designation, would you be willing to expand more on what that means exactly?
(I myself have written what looks an awful lot like historical adventure except that it's set on a different world.)

And Talk threads are always a single long line here, we don't tree. So when responding we type a > and the post number. The system adds the poster's name and turns it into a link to that post.

I'm a bit sad to say it, but if the post you are responding to is old, particularly one on this thread, you may be better off to click on the person's name, which will take you to their profile page, and post there. Not everyone who has introduced themselves is still paying attention, and there are no email notifications for replies posted in Talk.

I have added you to the author index. I hope you will stick around and join in some of our discussion threads. :)

>83 LAbernathy:
Hi there Lynda, nice to meet you!

I would like to recommend that you add more books to your catalog. LibraryThing is a book cataloging site and a lot of its social features are built around comparing libraries. Books that don't appear with other books in a library, are assumed by the system to be books that must not be interesting to anyone who reads other books. Not the impression you want to be giving, I'm sure. Don't just add bestsellers, though. Lesser known works that are a good match for your book make the most effective friends for your book. (The ideal is adding every book you own, of course, but for most of us that's a major project.)

Also you say that you wrote a poetry book, but it looks like you wrote it under a different name. This is totally okay, and we can combine the names together so that all your works appear on your author page. (My own author page does this, if you visit my author page--click on my name to get to my profile and then my LTAuthor link on the upper right to get to my author page--you will see what it looks like.) I just need verification of which names are you (And if Kit Campbell is you, verification of which books on the Kit Campbell page are written by you.)

So how is your book bending its genres? I notice that you added a speculative fiction tag? Would you like to be listed in the fantasy/science fiction portion of the author index, as well as the literary fiction section?

I'm going to wait until the author page business is sorted out before adding you to our author index. :)

>84 LShelby: LShelby

Thanks, I really appreciate the information. I tried to change it but I don't think I did it correctly. I would appreciate if you would check it. The book titles that are mine that I would like under Joyce Yvette Davis are The Lebensborn Alliance, Book II, and The Lebensborn Experiment, Book I. I have listed Steven Saylor books as books I have read.

Thanks, Shelby

Historical Science Fiction is the only term I could think of to describe my two books. Both books are about the Lebensborn program of the Nazis, only my story makes the participants immortal and gives them superhuman abilities.

My first book starts with the final days of WWII. A Black soldier is captured by the Nazis and accidentally given the serum. The inventor also gives the serum to his nephew and a kidnapped Polish boy. Book II, follows the black soldier to American during the Civil Rights Movement in 1956. Both books are packed with bits and pieces of historical facts, but from a different perspective, and especially in book II, The Lebensborn Alliance, the novel highlights a few unknown details about things that happened, as well as, introduces the readers to real historical figures, like Juliette Hampton Morgan, the white Librarian, and rich socialite who advocated against black discrimination.

>86 Joyce1915:
You only need to type in the number for the post reference. LT puts the name in for you. :)

Your books are no longer showing for me on the Joyce Davis page. Both of your books' author links go to the Joyce Yvette Davis page. But the Joyce Yvette Davis page appears to me to be only showing one of the two books.

I've seen this before, and it usually fixes itself within a couple days. But we will want to keep an eye on it.

In the meantime you probably want to create a series for them. You do this quite simply by typing in the series name in the correct line on the book's work page. Just make sure you spell the series identically for both books. While you are there, you can fill in some of the other Common Knowledge information, such as, locations, events, and characters.

Common knowledge information is cross-referenced across the site. If you list Juliette Hampton Morgan for your book, and then click on the resulting link, you will see a list of all the books on LibraryThing which have Juliette Hampton Morgan listed as a character.

As a general rule, don't fill in every single place or character mentioned in your books, only the ones that are truly significant to the story. For real life (or literary) references, think backwards... in you were wanting to read fiction about that place, event or character would this book have enough in it about it for you not to feel cheated? You can also indicate the breadth of the character's role in brackets after the name to avoid false expectations.

For an author's own inventions, I usually recommend filling in the top two to four characters, events and places, and leaving it at that. Although, with a series that has repeating characters that show up in some but not all books, this can be a way of tracking which book features who.

Thank you for explaining your book premise to me. If your super humans are not going to change history, then historical science fiction seems a quite reasonable a term. (One benefit of the LibraryThing tagging system is that we can pick whatever categories we want for grouping our books.) Also it sounds like a really interesting concept. :)

Besides my historical except that its a different world setting, I have also built an alternate history world--but that one is clearly a fantasy rather than a science fiction setting, because the thing that caused history to change was a sudden upsurge in magic following the Black Death.

I just started a discussion thread on research, I'd love to have you join in. :)

Hello, fellow authors! I am so happy to be a part of this wonderful website and of this group. My name is Paz Ellis. I am an indie author. I have been writing since I learned to read. I have read a lot in my life. My parents were book lovers and my Dad used to collect Reader's Digest. He had issues from before I was born and I had to read them... in Spanish! He was Cuban and my Mom was Dominican. They wanted us to speak only Spanish at home so that we would always have a second language. I am so glad they did that... I love to write memoirs, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and soon I will try YA.

I look forward to getting to know you all!

Dear Library Thing authors
Can I ask what people think about socially-engaged writing? After all we have science fiction, why not social science fiction? I’ve always wanted to write novels. In my day job I’m an academic but I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that you can only truly understand the issues that matter to people through your feelings, your imagination and your compassion. Equally it is only through emotion and empathy that people engage with these issues and that is the world of fiction not rational cognitive-based research.
Does that make sense, and do you think there is space alongside all the non-fiction books and articles in learned journals there is space for another dimension of knowledge about our social world, based on experience and feelings – and that would be expressed through novels? Could we respect what is contained in fiction as much as and in the same way that we respect the knowledge gained through experiment and deductive methods?
Maybe I should just save my breath on this to cool my porridge, but it’s an idea and something I’ve tried to pursue in my novels. (If I may be permitted a brief plug, my latest “Blood Ties” is about the world of people-trafficking and corrupt politics and is just out as an e-Book).
Best wishes
Peter

Hi everyone, I'm Ellie Raine, I'm a fantasy adventure author! Sorry if I mess up how this posting thing works, I'm not very good with technology...

Anyway, I'm from Atlanta, GA and live with my husband and 1-year-old daughter. I just completed the last book in my fantasy series (no small feat with the little dragon princess now) and I'm currently working on the outline for a middle-grade fantasy series.

I'm a gamer at heart, if not currently in practice with the toddler taking up my time, but my favorite games are Final Fantasy (IX, CC, XIV), Zelda (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess), and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

I also come from an artistic background as a graphic designer and digital painter. I originally went to the Art Institute of Atlanta for a degree in Game Art and Design, but I ended up falling in love with writing instead, and took up some journalism and editing jobs for a while until my first book was published.

I do music for fun (singing, ukulele, piano, tin whistle/ocarina, guitar, etc.) and sometimes sew for cosplay at conventions. It's been a long time since I could actually bring out the sewing machine though. The toddler doesn't make most of these hobbies easy anymore, so it's been a real crash course in re-learning my daily rhythm (which I thought I figured out, but I guess not!).

My favorite world is the world of How To Train Your Dragon--I've spoken at panels about the franchise, so if anyone ever wants to talk about How To Train Your Dragon (or Trollhunters! Or Harry Potter!) hit me up! I love talking about those.

Oh, also: Today's my birthday! Great day to join, huh?

>88 PazEllis:
Hello Paz, Welcome to Hobnob!

When I dropped by your author page I saw that the same book was showing up twice (the titles were formatted a little differently), so I combined them for you.

But your profile said you'd published a second book, and I couldn't find it. Did you have trouble adding it to LibraryThing?

For the genre part of our Author index, I ended up only adding you to the non-fiction section, but I'd be happy to add you to any two other sections you want. Also, if you want to be listed in the location section I need to know where you are. (We usually go by closest big city.)

I totally agree with your parents that have a second language is valuable. My mom tried to get me to learn french, and well I can read it a little, but can't really speak it at all. ::rueful:: Better than not knowing anything, I guess.

Do you plan to write in Spanish ever?

My father was also a reader's digest afficiando. He used to make me do the 'it pays to increase your word power' quizzes' :)

Other than the missing book you seem to have done an excellent job of setting up your account. I hope you will drop by some of our other threads.

>89 ptg:
Hey Peter, welcome back!

You ask a very good question, but this thread might not be the best place to discuss it. Most of the people around here leave responding to the new people to me. (Because I'm so good at it?)

Why don't you start a new topic thread for your question--I think it might lead to some interesting discussion. If you need help figuring out how to start a new thread, just let me know, either here or on my profile.

I still haven't added you to our Author index, btw, because I'd still like to verify that all the titles on your author page are by you, and that the page doesn't need splitting, before I start making links.

>90 AizelleRaine:
Hi Ellie, Welcome to LibraryThing!

I'm a fantasy adventure writer myself. :)
(At least my trilogy is definitely adventure and sort of fantasy, and my other two books are definitely fantasy if not all that adventurous. But seven of my next nine books will be both fantastical and adventurous, so that's good enough to count, right?)

I'm sorry to hear that the toddler is interfering with your usual hobbies, but that's kind of what toddlers do. ::rueful::
By the time you have figured it out, your toddler probably won't be a toddler anymore.
(I got around this one of life's ironies by having multiple toddlers in a row.)

We have a number of musical and artistic persons wandering around so I started a thread for talking about that sort of thing, earlier this year. Maybe you'd be interested in joining in?

Also... since you are such a big How To Train Your Dragon fan, did that franchise influence your writing at all? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

I have added you to the author index under fantasy for genre and Atlanta for location.

And Happy Birthday!

My name is Marshalee Patterson, author of three Christian fiction books, all of which have its own theme.

I've always loved books and writing stories since I was young but never saw myself as a writer until I took a trip to Italy back in 2003 and came back wanting to write a story about it. I grew up reading stories such as Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare etc. I love fictional stories that can teach me valuable lessons that can improve my life through their characters. It is what inspires me to write to bring hope to my readers as those books did to me.

I love nature, I find it relaxing and perfect for getting inspiration and I always have a love for salsa music and was a very good dancer too.

Why I write: I write to bring healing and hope to readers through my stories and characters, sharing some of my own experiences in those stories and how I overcame the different challenges. If I get one review that says my book helped one person in this way, it would mean more to me than all the sales.

Thank you for reading my introduction! I look forward to hearing yours :)

>94 marshamelna:
Hello Marshalee! Nice to meet you. :)

You've got one book with your name with a middle initial and two without, so we need to combine your author pages... but I can't because you're so new to the system that search isn't finding you yet.

I need to do it in a day or two. (This is mostly a reminder to myself.)

Until I get that fixed I won't add you to the author index.

But I am curious... what was it about visiting Italy that suddenly made you want to write?

I wish you all the best in getting that feedback!

I hope while we're waiting for the system to find you that you'll check out some of the other threads in our group. :)

Thank you Shelly for the warm welcome. It was the romance of Italy that made me want to write a love story, but when I was in the middle of it God turned the direction of it, added a new character, and the theme from just romance to one of faith.

>96 marshamelna:
For some one who has a love story in almost everything I write, I've never really been up on what is supposed to make one location more romantic than another. But we should probably move that discussion somewhere else, like the When is a love story not a romance thread. So I will ask you to tell me more over there, okay?

Starting a thread on stories about faith might be interesting too, what do you think?

>93 LShelby:

Thanks so much!

I'd already been well into my writing before I discovered How To Train Your Dragon, so that missed the influencing days. Honestly, Final Fantasy IX was one of the biggest influences for me. And I'd love to talk about artistic/musical hobbies, I'll go look for the thread!

Hi everyone! My name is Audrey Keown, and I've been writing fiction in a serious way for about ten years now. My debut mystery novel, Murder at Hotel 1911, is coming out this August with Crooked Lane Books, so it's a busy and exciting time for me.

With the coronavirus changing the world every day, I find it an odd time to be marketing my book. Any other authors feeling this? But I'm a reader too, and I know I need books now as much as ever!

I'm a hobby gardener, a bike rider, a pretty darn great baker, and a mom. I'm a big fan of Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series, and others like it. I've binge-watched almost every British murder mystery on tv too-- Miss Fisher, Grantchester, Father Brown, Hinterland, etc.

It's great to join this community. I look forward to making some friendships here!

>99 AudreyKeown:

Welcome to the Hobnob Group, Audrey!

How exciting for you to have your debut book coming out!

And yes, reading is something that doesn't seem to be slowing down much. If anything, a lot of people are reading more. But book signings might not be the best idea right now. :(

I tried going to your profile to see if we had any mysteries in common (Mystery is my 7th most used tag), but alas, you have only added one book to your catalog.

I highly recommend adding more books. LibraryThing is a book cataloging site first and foremost and many of the site features involve comparing libraries. (If you download the app, you can use your tablet or phone to scan barcodes, that's usually the fastest way to add more books.)

Being a biker and a gardener seem innocuous enough, but what about that mom business? Does it get in the way of your writing? Maybe it inspires you? (My, now grown, children act as my betareaders.)

I hope you will enjoy this community, but to do so, you really need to post to the discussion threads. I will even start you a discussion thread on writing mysteries if you want. (Or you can start it yourself.) :)

I have added you to the author index, with Mystery as your genre, but if you want to go in the location section I'll need some idea of where you are. We usually go by closest major city.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better!

Hey, everyone. My name is Christopher Swann and I'm a novelist and high-school English teacher in Atlanta, Georgia.

When I was in eighth grade, I decided that I wanted to become a novelist. It only took me about thirty-five years, but I did it. My debut novel, Shadow of the Lions, was published by Algonquin in 2017. My next novel, Never Turn Back, will be published by Crooked Lane Books on October 6 of this year, and a third novel will come out in 2021.

I write in the literary crime/mystery/thriller category and consider authors like Martin Cruz Smith to be a role model.

As for reading, just about anything goes as long as the writing is good and the characters are interesting.

Glad to be on LibraryThing and in the Hobnob group!

>100 LShelby:
Hey, Christopher! Nice to meet you.

(Our second Crooked Lane Books author in a row. A coincidence?)
Congratulations on making your 35 year goal!

We have sixteen books in common, and my "what should you borrow list had several things I have actually read. (One of these days I rally need to find myself a copy of Thurber's 13 Clocks. Also, I was just talking about Edgar Rice Burroughs on another thread --or was it two or three other threads?)

You may wish to claim your Author Page. Click on your name as it appears as the author of your book in your catalog, and then in the upper right sidebar will be a box that says, 'Is this you?' What this will do is create a link between your author page and your profile. (It's not required, and being an LT Author gives you no special powers or authority, but personally I find those little links very handy.) You may also wish to fill in some of your author common knowledge.

I'm curious, as an English teacher do you have a leaning toward the more literary side of the crime/mystery/thriller spectrum, or do you consider 'good writing' to cover a much wider spectrum?

Also, crime/mystery/thriller is a pretty big category... can you narrow it down, or do you pretty much cover all the ground between your various projects?

I have added you to our author index, and I hope you will contribute to some of our discussion threads. Welcome to Hobnob!

Hi, my name is John McCluskey and I just joined LibraryThing. I live in Connecticut and I have been writing poetry and fiction as far back as I can remember and had my first two books (novella and poetry) published within the last three years. I write mostly about family drama and especially the effects of alcoholism on families, including the alcoholic him/herself, but especially on the captive spouses, children, siblings,etc. I like to focus on the complexities involved, including the concept of villains and victims and how it is almost impossible to separate the two in a mess such as this. I am working my third book now, a bit longer piece of fiction, but same general topic, though this one details missed coming-of-age opportunities due to the family dynamic and is hopefully told in hilarious, ridiculous, moving and poignant terms. We'll see how that works out.

I also enjoy photography, sharing on social media and through international calls for submission. I photograph a variety of topics, mostly centered around the cities of New York and New Orleans, and the New England area. Any really anything else that catches my eye.

Delighted to see what other authors here are working on and the sharing of comments, advice, observations, etc. Looking forward to to it all!

Hi everyone,

My name's Gareth Southwell. I'm a philosopher, writer and illustrator. I've just joined LibraryThing from Goodreads, as in all the time I was on the latter I found the interaction to be minimal. So, I came here looking for more of a sense of community and to connect with folks with common interests.

I've been involved with philosophy a good while, now. I sidestepped out of academia some 12 year ago, and now I mostly write popular philosophy for students and the general reader. I'm just finishing off my tenth traditionally published book, and am just starting to investigate self publishing. For more about me and my books, please check out my website: https://philosophy.garethsouthwell.com. If you're interested, you can also sign up to my monthly email list for updates, giveaways, beta reads, etc - please see: http://philosophy.garethsouthwell.com/emails

My other hat is an artistic one. I'm a professional book and magazine illustrator - you can see some of my stuff here: https://art.garethsouthwell.com. Self-publishing will also give me an opportunity to do my own covers, so, having been at the whim of art directors and editors for over a decade, I'm now looking forward to having total control!

In addition to all of this, I've also written a novel - which is yet to see the light of day, but is getting there. It brings together all my interests - mostly philosophy and sci-fi - and it's been refreshing to attempt something so different, even if that comes with its own frustrations and challenges (as I'm sure you'll all empathise with).

Anyway, please feel free to respond, chat, check out the links, and share what's going on with you. I'd be especially interested to hear from self-published authors, and their experiences of the challenges of marketing, etc.

All the best,

Gareth Southwell.

Hi folks, I am a self published author in the UK, also on wordpress and goodreads but fearful that my blog on wordpress may be discontinued as they are changing the format.
I would like to have conversations with other writers as well as interesting some of you in the family novels I have been writing over the last twelve years.
I am a pensioner, an ex teacher and a former local politician.
I will need some help finding my way round Librarything but am willing to learn.
I have a website http://www.juliecround.co.uk
I tried to change my introductory name when I realised I had made a mistake but I can't find the new one.
goodoldstick

Oh, I am so sorry for my late reply. I must have notifications turned off. I just pulled my 2nd book to have it re-edited. Plantains and the Seven Plagues is my current book on the market.

And yes, I currently am having my memoir translated! I am very excited!

Thank you!

>103 John_McCluskey:

Hello John, welcome to the Hobnob group!

I'm really, really sorry it took so long to respond to you, I've been having a kind of rough couple of weeks. Shortly after you posted, my husband discovered a carpenter ant infestation in our house, so he's been pulling out walls, discovering colonies, spraying bug spray, removing the damaged wood, discovering a new ant nursery, lather, rinse, repeat. None of this is good for my health condition, but it's not like I can go visit a friend for the duration, so I've just been having to tough it out. Better two weeks sick than having our house eaten away from the inside out.

If you post to the various discussion threads in the group, you will discover that I am not the only person here. Really truly. I'm just the only person who keeps close track of the introduction thread. ::rueful::

Anyway, it's really nice to meet you. Your topic sounds appropriately weighty, but "hilarious, ridiculous moving and poignant" sounds like a tough challenge to set oneself on as a writer. Very admirable.

New York and New Orleans don't seem very close to each other. If you live in Connecticut that explains the New England connection, but how did New Orleans become a favored topic? And is there somewhere we can go to see a sampling of your photographs?

I have added you to the Hobnob Author Index under contemporary fiction and poetry, if that doesn't sound right, let me know and I'll fix it.

I hope you will keep us all informed of how the novel writing is going, and that you will drop by some of the other threads in the group and give us your insights.

>104 Gareth.Southwell:

Hi there Gareth!

Welcome to Hobnob!

Sorry it took me a bit to respond, I've been feeling unwell, as I explained in in my response to >103 John_McCluskey: and so I didn't see your post until today.

I noticed you started a discussion thread, I will respond to that as soon as I get caught up here. ::rueful::

Anyway, yay pending science fiction author! (Science Fiction and Philosophy sound like an excellent match.) I hope your experience with self-publishing goes well for you. :)

I checked out your sample art page, and I think it is totally obvious that you ought to be doing your own covers. What could be more appropriate?

(That Munki cover seems a bit out of your usual mode -- how did that come about?)

I have been doing my own covers too, but my publisher wants to find someone more professional, so we will see if that continues. (He's says it's to save me time and effort that I could otherwise spend on writing.)

A couple notes on your author page:

First, I love the monkey in headphones, but if you leave it up on your author page, you will probably get yelled at sooner or later, because it isn't really a picture of you. If you do a straight up self-portrait, (in your distinctive style, of course) and put that up on the author page instead, then your author image won't get flagged.
You can keep the monkey for your profile page (and I hope you will, because I adore it) -- the profile page is yours for you to express yourself, and the author page is public property and is for hard data. That's the LibraryThing way of doing things. (LibraryThing, home of the fantatic book cataloging data freaks.)

Secondly, you only have "other author" artist credit for one book! That can't be right, I just looked at a whole bunch of covers that you did. Do you know how to add yourself to a book's listing as a cover artist? I can explain how, or if you give me a list of books that you've done covers for, I can do it for you.

I have added you to our author index under non-fiction and I started a brand new section for artists and illustrators, (which is probably over due) so I could put you there as well. Make sure you remind me when your science fiction novel comes out so I can add you to that section too.

I didn't put you in the location index because I don't know where you are at. If you let me know what the closest big city is, I'll add you in. :)

Nice to meet you!

>105 18northaven:
oldstick, is that you?

So great to see you back again, I have missed you!

I'm sorry to hear that wordpress is making changes that are likely to cause you problems?

What changes are they making exactly?

Do you want me to add you to the index as oldstick or as goodoldstick?

Also, you need to drop by the Author's What are you working On? And catch us up on what all you have been doing. Okay? :)

>106 PazEllis:
I am the last person in the world who has a right to complain about other people taking a long time to respond.

I was just off-line entirely for two weeks merely due to repeated RAID exposure.

Having your book translated is very exciting. Congrats!

...I have an author friend who ended up getting published in translation before he was published in the original language. That was unexpected! :)

I hope you'll drop by some of our discussion threads.

I'm about to start a new one on covers.

Thank you for your note and certainly no apology needed at all. I sure hope you're feeling better, that sounds like a tough two weeks. My interest in New Orleans developed since my daughter attended school there and stayed on after graduation. We visit as often as we can, and the city itself is so exciting and interesting that we've grown quite connected. I have a lot of photography in various print and on-lne journals over the years. One sampling would be at the web site www.jerryjazzmusician.com where you can search on my name and see a few photos essays and jazz related poetry I have been fortunate to have published.

Most of my photography is in New York City, close to where I live. Here is a link to a journal that published a photo essay on the water towers of the city. Fun photo shoot - more digital art than traditional photography in this case. https://the-otolith.blogspot.com/2018/06/john-mccluskey.html

Wow, thank you, LShelby! I've just responded on the other thread, and then I saw this one. It's tricky to keep up to date with responses as there seems to be no auto-notification system for the forums. Guess I'll have to keep checking back.

Thank you for your generous comments about my art. The Munki cover was just my attempt to save money! I know my style is not really suited to sci-fi, but I thought if I took a particular take on the events of the novel (which includes computer viruses), then it might serve. And quirky, intricate things catch the eye. So, we'll see. The novel is unfortunately on hold, at the moment, as now didn't really seem the best time to interest people in viruses of any sort! It will come out at some point, I think, but for now I'll be pushing on with the non-fiction.

The illustrations for covers are a growing list. I'm always a bit wary of getting my name on other's books, as I feel they should really be for the author. I'm just there as window dressing, and I'm happy with that role - interested people can always hunt down the name of the illustrator.

I'm based in Wales, in the UK, and I guess the nearest city would be Swansea, and then Cardiff.

Point taken about the monkey in headphones picture - I shall either hunt down some passable photo, or - as you suggest - whip up a self-portrait, which might be quite fun.

If you are looking for covers, then I would recommend Reedsy (where I've done a fair bit of work - not self-promoting, sorry. It's not especially cheap, but there are loads of brilliant artists on there in a range of styles. The big thing with a cover is to do your homework and really nail down the style that suits your genre.

Thank you once again for your kind comments. It's really heartening, especially after coming here from Goodreads, where I had a number of rather negative experiences - mostly with the so-called "support" staff!

All my best,

G.

Hello Everyone!
My name is Raven and I am so happy to see there is a thread for new authors. I am from Florida and an author who writes many different genres. Romance, Inspirational, Thrillers, and Mystery. I love love love to read and reading is actually what inspired me to become a writer. When reading a book it is a time for me to escape into the world of the characters and their atmosphere. I wanted to be someone who gave others that joy. Some of my other hobbies are photography and swimming. I am a very diverse reader and I am not picky. I love to read new things and would not mind recommendations for books. Thanks guys!
FUN FACT
My name is Raven Samone Simmons so I am often called "That's so Raven" who I was actually named after :)

>111 John_McCluskey:

Some of the photos on the Jerry Jazz Musician site weren't loading up for me. The ones that did were pretty cool.

When I saw this one I thought, gosh, that would make a great cover image. (Nope can't tell what I'm obsessed with, not all all!) :)

The water-towers all loaded fine. :) I can't help wondering how much ciy crawling you had to do to get those. And you must have been pretty high up to get some of those shots!

Thanks for coming back and answering my qustions. I hope you will participate in some of the other discussion threads going in the group.

Or even start your own thread. Our only request is to try to stick to topics that a wide range of authors and readers can participate in. :)

>112 Gareth.Southwell: "It's tricky to keep up to date with responses as there seems to be no auto-notification system for the forums. "

You are precisely right, there is no notification system. The technical staff have been engaged in a redesign of the system for the past year (they just unveiled the new Series code a couple days ago), so maybe a notification system will eventually be coming. But maybe not. The site owner is on the record for saying that he thinks that creating the requirement that people come back and check on things leads to a smaller and more dedicated group of participants, and therefore more intelligent conversation.

I'm not sure he's right, but its an interesting theory. :)

"I'm always a bit wary of getting my name on other's books, as I feel they should really be for the author. I'm just there as window dressing, and I'm happy with that role - interested people can always hunt down the name of the illustrator."

LibraryThing is one of the places people go when they want to hunt down the name of the illustrator.

The way it works is that cover artists are quietly added to book pages in the "other authors" module as secondary authors. On the book page, unless someone has the "other authors" module opened, they won't see your name. This is not about propaganda or self promoting or about stealing someone else's thunder. It's about data. Data is LibraryThing's obsession.

It is totally okay to go around adding yourself as the cover artist to all the books you are the cover artist of. Really truly. If it makes you feel guilty, then add the cover artist for all the other books you own to LibraryThing also. :)

BTW, the no promotion rule is not in effect in this group. This group is an officially sanctioned group that was started to provide a place where authors could talk about what they were writing, and about publishing and so forth, without having to worry whether or not they were crossing some invisible line.

As a result, the no-promoting rule was suspended for this group. (We have special dispensation!)

We do strongly prefer that if you are going to post out-and-out advertisements, that you do so in the threads that have been established for that purpose, though.

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't find Goodreads a comfortable environment, but I'm glad that you showed up here. I hope you find it more to your taste.

>113 Raven_Samone_Sim4043:
Hi Raven, nice to meet you. Welcome to Hobnob!

My goodness, so many genres. You might want to tag your books so that people know which books belong in which genres.

(When I was still in school I wrote in a bunch of different genres also. When I decided to become a professional author I soon discovered that the more genres I wrote in, the more different agents and publishers and so forth I had to keep track of if I wanted to submit my work and I started specializing in fantasy and science fiction out of pure laziness.)

It would also be a good idea to add more books to your library than just the ones you've written. This is because LibraryThing is a social *cataloging* site, and a lot of the social features are based around comparing libraries. If your books are only found in a library all by themselves, that says to the book comparison routines, "these are books that nobody who owns any other books would be interested in." NOT what you want to say about your books, I'm sure.

I always have to warn people, though, that adding in a bunch of bestsellers isn't a good idea either. Bestsellers are owned by too many people so their connections with other books are weak. Books that you really love but that maybe aren't the most uber-popular are usually the best ones to focus on if you aren't interested in adding your entire library.

(I keep meaning to finish cataloging all of mine, but I've been here for a dozen years and it hasn't happened yet.)

By some coincidence, we had another photographer show up just before you arrived. I forced him to post some links so that I could check out his work. >:)
What do you most like to take pictures of?

Am I allowed to admit that I find the way The Story of Me is titled fascinating? Is there a Part 3 in the works?

I have added you to our author index, so I hope you stick around and check out some of the other discussions we have going right now.

Notifications: got it. Makes sense!

Cover illustrator: that's a fair point. I shall try to find time to add some of these.

Promotion: got it! I shall post in the relevant thread.

Thanks again, LShelby!

Just to introduce myself somewhere

Flavio Miguel Pereira, from Portugal, 26 (almost 27 ) years old, writer of poetry since the age of 13/14 when i went second on a school contest.

Already published two books each one representing a phase of my writing, the first is a reedit of one i have tried to publish on early age (Poemas Sonhadores) and the second is a kind of grenade launch i tried to pick for Portugal in Troika times (and other ones).

As you could see from my goodreads and from some books here too im reviewing books mainly for poetry if i found one or others just like i said in my introduction: im open for surprises.

I will get the chance to Thank LibraryThing in the meantime, FIRST BOOK REVIEWER PROGRAMS I SAW IN MY HOLE LIFETIME NEEDS A HYPE (sory the needed caps) :D

Im a guy with other surprises but interested people can google them :D

Hi! I'm GL Robinson.
I'm British but I've lived in the USA for over 40 years I have seven grandchildren and the same husband I started with nearly 50 years ago. We live in a small town in upstate New York but nowadays spend the winter in Florida. I need to sell lots of books so we can buy a waterfront condo! (laughs ironically).
I love my garden, telling my grandchildren stories and eating desserts. I'd give up a steak for a Key Lime Pie any day!
I began writing Regency Romances just under two years ago ago after the death of my beloved sister who was in a convent boarding school with me in the 50/60's. We used to read them under the covers with a torch after lights out. My books are dedicated to her.
I've so far indie published three. The third, Rosemary or Too Clever to Love, just came out at the beginning of May. I'm writing a fourth and editing a trilogy I wrote 18 months ago. I plan on publishing them over the summer.
If you can stand a very British accent, check out my website. You can listen to the first chapters of my books and get advice from Lady Imogen. She's a hoot!
https:/romancenovelsbyglrobinson.com

Hi LibraryThing Members!

I'm C. Thomas Cox, and I just published my first novel and short story a week ago.

I've been actively writing for nearly a decade, but only recently did I decide to share my words with the world via self-publishing. I hope the world likes them!

I love reading and writing suspense and thrillers. I like the tension they invoke, particularly anything considered a "page-turner". For that reason, I keep my books moving...I want my readers to feel like they can't put my books down.

I'm also a stickler for grammar and spelling. Therefore I try to polish my books as much as possible. Otherwise, I wouldn't consider them "professional".

During most of the time that I'm not writing, I work full-time in IT. When I'm not working or writing, I share my life with my beautiful wife and two sons. We love playing sports and games as a family, with backyard homer derby a favorite.

You can find my recently-published website here, and I promise to add more content as I have time:
https://ctcox20.wixsite.com/cthomascox

Hello everyone,

I'm a writer of crime and suspense and a reader of anything well written. I turned to writing crime when I realized that I had a gold mine of insider information in my husband's twenty-year career as an NYPD detective.

My debut novel, Hide In Place, is out February 9, 2021 from Crooked Lane Books.

I have a degree in fine art, and spent a few years as an illustrator for magazines and books before transitioning to digital art. My careers have rotated around books from the very beginning. I worked as a bookbinder's assistant whilst in college, then as a photo editor for a book publisher, then as a web designer for Bookspan back when they were owned by a giant media corporation.

When not writing, I read massive quantities of psychological thrillers, suspense, and crime fiction.

You can read more about me and my work here:
http://www.emilyanaymark.com/author

Hi Folks,
My name is Clabe Polk. I'm an author of crime/action, Christian action/adventure, historic action fiction, and some sci-fi. I have written the Detective Mike Eiser Series (Backslide, Hot Summer Nights, Schism, Angelica, Fire on the Mountain, and soon to come, The Illusionist), The Adventures of Harry Morgan Series (Collegial Conspiracy, Emilio, The Pirates of Cayo Pelau), The Road to Armageddon, The Calling of Amos Puckett (newly released), Teal Dissociated, Devolution, A Valentine for Mary Jane, Double or Nothing, and tons of short stories and flash fiction.
You can check out my books on my website, Clabe Polk Mystery and Adventure, http://clabepolkmysteryadve.ipage.com, purchase my books on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Clabe-Polk/e/B00OEG7K54), Smashwords (smashwords.com/books/search?query=Clabe+Polk ) and a ton of other retail sites.

I have also reviewed more than two hundred books for other writers (I think officially 68 for LibraryThing), while constantly looking for new reviewers for my books. I review fictional crime, police procedural, action, sci-fi, adventure, suspense, thrillers. I usually do not review horror and never romance, erotica, politics, social justice or religion. If requesting a review, please use the form found at http://clabepolkmysteryadve.ipage.com/book-review-request-form.html and be patient. Reviews take a while.

Hello Literary World!

My pen names are P.G. Shriver and Gean Penny. I write children's and young adult fiction. I am an award winning, best selling author who loves writing, story telling, and interacting with readers as time allows. I'm currently finishing up the third novel in my Gifted Ones Trilogy. I've been working on this trilogy for 20 years and will finally see it end this year. My children's book The Lonely Chair, 2nd edition (a fictional children's book that helps grandchildren deal with grief) was a Bestseller. You can find (or buy) any (or all) of my books at the following websites:

https://pgshriver.com
https://thegiftedonestrilogy.com
https://runtandarnold.com
https://thestinkerbooks.com
https://zoomein.com
https://txfestivalseries.com
https://shop.aer.io/PGSBookCorner

Sign up while you're there checking out my books. I love to giveaway free books and items to my subscribers. If you do pick up a copy of one of my books, let me know what you think. I welcome reviews of any level on the book's page as well as at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPGShriver/reviews.

Stay safe and healthy in this wild time of 2020!

PG

Hello all.

My Name Is Tony Brunal. I mostly write Science Fiction and work art trying to bring a redemptive spin to my books. I am a NAVY Veteran who has traveled around the world in my youth. Now as a father of grown children, I am working on expanding my reach. If you have time and would like to reach or see what I am about, please don't hesitate to visit my webpage.

Sincerely,

Tony Brunal

Please visit my Website.

Watch my book trailer here!

Hi everyone!

My name is Aaron Chan, and I'm a writer from the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples (Vancouver, BC). I mostly write creative non-fiction (memoir/personal essay) but I've been known to write some fiction from time to time. My first book, a memoir collection about growing up gay, Chinese, and Canadian, THIS CITY IS A MINEFIELD, was published last year by Signal 8 Press. You can grab a copy of it by ordering from your local independent bookstore, on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/This-City-Minefield-Aaron-Chan/dp/9887794910/), Book Depository (https://www.amazon.com/This-City-Minefield-Aaron-Chan/dp/9887794910/), or if you'd like a signed copy, order one through my website! https://www.theaaronchan.com

You can find me on Twitter @theaaronchan and Instagram @aaronchanvan.

Hope you're all well wherever you are.

Cheerio,

Aaron

Hello!

Shirley Reva Vernick here. I'm a MG/MA novelist who has been hooked on storytelling (and story reading!) my whole life. I'm thrilled to be part of this group. If you'd like to learn more about my books, you can check out my author profile here or my official website (ShirleyRevaVernick.com). Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this piece of personal trivia: my first published work, at age 17, was a quip in Reader's Digest – "Is a belly dancer a waist of energy?"

All my best,
Shirley

Hi everyone! I'm from Queensland, Australia and I've written six books. I write as Rita Lee Chapman - mostly mysteries but also one horse book for grown-ups.

When I'm not reading or writing I enjoy playing tennis, swimming and entertaining friends. My husband and I also enjoyed walking the beach or along the river.

I have a website, where I interview a different author each week. It's fun to learn about other authors, their writing habits and how they came to write.

Hi there.
I am Anastasia but publish as A.R. Kingston, and I was told to check out this platform as a way to connect to more people.
I live in Colorado Springs, with English being my second language, at least technically. I love all book genres, but I mainly write fantasy/romance, and I have been diligently trying to get my library listed on the site. I also love my pet pigs and post them costantly on my Instagram, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get them to sell my books. Also, I publish short stories for free on my site reguarly for anyone who is interested. And that's about all I can think of about me.

All,

I am reintroducing my firstbook - As Time Narrows. Please visit my website to find out more.

As Time Narrows - Is a story about humanity's last gasp. Years of war, famine and pestilence have eroded the population from a multitude of 8 billion to a barely present 200 thousand. The struggling survivors strewn over multiple continents. The huddled masses have been reduced to little factions; whose sole purpose is to keep on living. Now, after years of watching the skies, a group of scientists have discovered a far off signal that can provide hope.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088SLWH4F
Follow the book with Pinterest.

Hello everyone,

I'm new to LibraryThing and an aspiring novelist. Writing has been something I've enjoyed since college and I've been fortunate enough to have it be part of my full-time job experience for more than 40 years. Rather than redirect you to my website, I suspect you're reading this because you wish to know more about me here on LibraryThing.

As series of strange and fortunate events got me a job as a TV weather presenter in a major U.S. city when I was still a teenager. At the time, I was the youngest major-market weatherman in North America. I built on that experience to become a certified broadcast meteorologist and went on to complete my education in that field, but also worked two years as a fire meteorologist and six years as a forensic meteorologist.

I've always and one or two side gigs going in addition to my full-time work, and nearly 20 years of those included writing weekly newspaper columns, magazine articles and video scripts. After 25 years in meteorology I entered the sporting goods industry and was senior copywriter for Cabela's for eight years. You might have guessed correctly that I'm an avid outdoorsman involved in hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and other outdoor recreation. Along the way I completed my ministry credentials and have pastored three churches part-time over a period of eight years.

Two years ago, Cabela's was sold to a competitor and my position, along with 1,200 others, was "retired" as a result. When you find yourself approaching 60 and in need of employment, it's a rough ride. Between interviews I dusted off an old novel manuscript I'd started writing in the 1990s and determined to complete it. I took a writing class from best-selling novelist Ted Dekker, applied what I learned, and published "Species Unknown" in November of 2019 on Amazon. It's consistently been in the top 10 best sellers in its category through the summer of 2020. Due to that success, I'm working on a sequel now with hopes of writing novels full-time.

I love writing stories. Every character reflects a part of me, and it's enjoyable to grow and develop them in a fantasy world of my creation. One thing that's unique about my novels is that they're "clean" reads. I may be alone in this, but I find it hard to read stories that contain a whole lot of swearing, cursing and graphic sex. I strive to make stories with relatable characters who face the challenges of life and engage in the same things we all do, but tell their stories in a way that doesn't offend. What I've found from readers is that they finish my novel, realize there was no offensive content and understand its absence didn't impact their experience negatively. In other words, they didn't notice it was missing and when they did, realized the story didn't need it to be good.

I also strive to have my stories contain both moral principles and solid scientific and historical fact. Our entertainment has strayed from the old good vs. evil, hero vs. villain, light vs. dark principles. So many of our movies today don't have any such clear-cut story plots or admirable role models and I've found a market for my books among those who miss that.

Alas, I'm rambling. But I hope you'll take a look at "Species Unknown" on Amazon and consider adding it to your library. Thank you for your time in reading this introduction.

Dan Carlson

hello all

My name is Debbie Legault and I am a first-time author of a nonfiction memoir entitled "Mom...It's Cancer: They all said she was much too young. They were all very wrong."

I got the shock of my life when I received a phone call from my 27-year-old daughter last year telling me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. There is ZERO family history of any kind of cancer, no BCRA genetic issues, nothing. All the medical professionals she dealt with while investigating the lump she found in the shower were equally shocked when the results came back.

I moved across the country to live with her during treatment, which ended up being almost a year.
When I would sit in the waiting rooms and treatment rooms, I would see no one who looked like me. The women and men my age were the ones sitting in the treatment chairs with an IV attached or dressed in hospital gowns awaiting the arrival of a surgical nurse, not the ones holding purses and keys and water bottles as their child was poked and prodded. I thought I knew what was coming but I learned from holding my daughter's hand through multiple phases of treatment was that my knowledge was woefully lacking. So, I started looking. There were many general pieces of information out there that apply to all women diagnosed with breast cancer, but when I went to look for resources specifically for people like me, mothers of young women going through the experience, there wasn’t a lot for me to find. There were pamphlets and blogs galore that spoke from everyone's perspective but mine.

Out of desperation I started to write my own story in real time and would read it over and over again as I tried to process what was happening both practically and emotionally. At the suggestion of many readers who said my story would be helpful to others, I compiled those thoughts into a book in the hope that other mothers or family members who go looking for resources if they are faced with a similar situation will have something to find.

To those of you wondering we are very blessed and as of now she is in full remission.

I welcome any questions or comments!

Having taking up the violin at the age of 70, in the interests of research, I was delighted to see in the preceding post that I still have 8 years to go.
I was working on a book based on my grandmother, who at the age of 16, travelled from England to Leipzig Germany on her own to study violin. As the year was 1891, I thought that was rather intrepid, and determined to imagine her life. And figured I'd better know how to play the violin. The result was The Violet Trilogy - about which you can learn more at https://imaginingviolet.blogspot.com.
I am blessed to live on beautiful Salt Spring Island, off the southwest coast of Canada, where I play with a local string ensemble.

To introduce myself. Well, for starters, I am actually very antisocial and do not have, nor do I want any social media presence. Partly due to that, I am absolutely terrible at marketing or promoting anything I have written. I find the notion of delivering self-congratulatory platitudes loathsome and demeaning. I really don’t like it, any time I have to talk about myself. Whenever a site asks for a biography, I really just list the titles of the books I have written. My name on this site is Mark Comstock, which is the author name for my most recent book. I have twelve other self-published books. Six of them were written under the name, Aaron Aaronson and six were written under the, in no way idiotic name, Xavier Cockroachal Damon.

As for what I write about, it’s really just commentary on life and the world, as I see it. It is fiction but I do not write genre fiction. It is unconventional and can be quite bizarre and off the wall. It is unapologetic and uncompromising. It can be very harsh. It is always bleak. It is usually filled with dark comedy, often incredibly dark. I can state with certainty, it isn’t going to be for everyone but ultimately, it is what it is, and, in the end, everybody is entitled to their own opinion but I don’t really care what anybody thinks. I imagine there are many who would be put off by my attitude but, if so, so be it. I am the age that I am, but how that, or any other personal details of my life could, or should, in any way matter to anyone, is beyond me. I suppose the best way for anyone who is curious and wants to get some sort of glimpse of who I am would be to check out my website. The link to it can be found here:

https://wastelandvoid.wixsite.com/xaviercockroachal

If anyone has any questions they would like to ask, I will do my best to answer them, though I am highly skeptical that I would be able to provide even a semi-useful reply. But, I would try. Though, why anyone would want to is a mystery. In closing, I am me.

Greetings and salutations,

I'm Happy... ahem. I'm Jared K Chapman, not Jared Chapman the children's author/illustrator. He does great stuff. I love veggies in underwear. My three-year-old thinks that's hilarious. But that's not me.

I write genre-bending fiction generally dealing with dystopias and superpowers, so call me scifi/fantasy, probably more on the fantasy side, but not really magic and fairies or vampires (yet...but not the kind that sparkle). My influences include Huxley, Orwell, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Dick, and King. Most recently, I really liked Ready Player One and Armada for nostalgic reasons. They just make me feel like a kid again, playing video games, reading comics, and watching movies like the Last Star Fighter. Anyway, I had an interesting childhood that rendered me anxiety-ridden in full of panic. I probably have some PTSD... so I work that out through writing. I've been writing and telling stories as far back as I can remember. In 3rd or 4th grade, we published a book of collected stories for our class and I thought that was the best thing ever. Seeing my work in print that everyone can see... I was sold.

I wrote my first novel, some scifi conglomeration of Star Wars and Star Trek, when I was in 6th grade, and I bet it was bloody, freaking awful. I have no way of knowing. I think I let a classmate read it and never got it back. It probably wasn't even a novel. Back then, writing 10 pages felt like 100, am I right? So, I wrote stuff here and there, and I even got an award for a poem I wrote in HS. "Best Paradoxical Love Poem." For a kid who flew back forth between Mom and Dad and two countries every summer and school year from the age of 10 to 14, I can tell you that was a big deal. I never really had much stability in my life. After 14, I was passed around from family member to family member, living with aunt and uncle, mother, older sister, and grandfather. Hell, my first semester in junior college I was living out of my car.

It took me five years to get through JC, majoring in English, film, philosophy/RS, psychology, and finally graduating with an AA in Liberal Arts. After a few years of being married and not liking the real world, I went back to school, but this time I had focused. You see, it took me five years before because I barely graduated HS and JC wasn't much different. I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how I needed to learn. I actually got kicked out of JC through it for dropping too many classes. I had to beg to go back, and I ended up graduating on Dean's list and cum laude. When I went to University, I knew what I needed to do to learn and I did it. I graduated with a double major in psychology and religious studies, earning awards from both my departments. I went on to get a master's in psychology (research side, not therapy). I'm not that kind of psychologist.

Currently, I'm a doctoral candidate studying the social psychology of extreme groups. I'm dissertating right now, but you know what found out during my last course of my PhD? I have an anxiety disorder that acts like ADD, which makes school and test-taking and reading and everything I was doing difficult. I overcame that to do what I needed to get to where I was. I struggled and worked hard. Harder than others who didn't have those handicaps to deal with. It was like I was playing golf and I'm hitting my bowl 300 ft further back than everyone else. The point to all of this is not to feel bad for me or anything but to know we are amazing creatures who adapt and can do anything when we figure out how.

Sorry for rambling on. I didn't even tell you why I write what I write. I write what I want to read. I love to create worlds and the colorful, assorted people who live in those worlds. I love to tell stories about things that happen in those worlds. I love making readers feel what I try to make them feel.

I hope this gives you a good idea of who I am and where I come from. If you'd like to know more about me or my book, check out my website: http://jaredkchapman.com and follow me on my social stuff. Sometimes I write cool things or show rad pictures. You wouldn't want to miss that.

Thanks for reading and ask me anything.

>135 cockroachal: Many authors, including myself, have a bit of anti-social tendencies. It's not a negative thing, but when someone says, "He/She is antisocial.", it does sound negative. The way I like to put it is that it's not that I want to be alone, it's just that it doesn't bother me to be. And, not having a SM presence can be a liability these days (mine is limited) but I'm sure marketing can be done without, you just need to be creative.

>136 JaredKChapman: "My influences include Huxley, Orwell, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Dick, and King. Most recently, I really liked Ready Player One and Armada for nostalgic reasons.

Sounds like my bio...

Hi, I'm Lawrence, the author of Drunken Philosophy, and most recently Poop! Random Words, Musings and Insight. I'm also a registered financial service professional, a beaded jewelry artist and self-taught photographer.

Hi, i'm Jane, and I'm the author of the novel "Sisterhood of the Infamous," to be published by New Meridian Arts Literary Press on Feb. 23, 2021. I just posted the novel in ebook form for a month-long member giveaway in order to generate reviews. "Sisterhood" is a murder mystery set in Hollywood, with an investigation that centers on one of two sisters who tried to make it big in punk rock in the 1970s, but failed.

I'm also the author of four chapbooks of poetry, two full-length collections of poetry, a novel, and a memoir. I'll gladly tell you all about them if you want me to. I'm also happy to discuss "Sisterhood;'' mystery novels; poetry; African American literature (which I taught in a previous life); and books and writing in general.

I see I'm supposed to say something about why I write, where I'm from, the whole nine yards. I grew up in Los Angeles, and never got over it. Now I live in New York in a family of native New Yorkers. I studied creative writing w/Kate Braverman; she's a huge influence. I started writing for many reasons; I've worked as a journalist and earned an MFA in fiction. Now, I'm not sure why I do it. It's a compulsion.

You can check out my web site, jane-rosenberg-laforge.com; or my Facebook Author page, at https://www.facebook.com/Jane-Rosenberg-LaForge-Author-269805766510206 Take care and I'm happy to meet you, in advance.

Hello!

My name is M.O. LeClair. Nice to "meet" you all!

My first book 'Concrete Jungle' is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The release date is September 4th, 2021. It's a suspense/thriller/mystery book.

You can visit the library at my official website if you'd like to read some at: www.rwavp.com

Here's the Amazon pre-order link: www.amazon.ca/dp/B08KGQSFWS and the book trailer link is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fVKZmiCGcE

Here's the book jacket description:

When Nylah Diamond, a young psychiatry student, becomes aware of a new case study, she becomes obsessed with it; something about it intrigues her.

She wants to know about every detail, every statement, every piece of evidence and everyone involved.

...someone else wants it left in the past...

She becomes determined to help piece together everything that has seemingly been hidden and scattered everywhere for so long...

...things that were meant to stay scattered and hidden. Something doesn't make sense.

Some things from childhood, they stick with you, forever. Small things, big things, what seem like such insignificant things; change things. Change people.

...and if "Dr" Diamond doesn't let sleeping dogs lie, she may be the next to get bitten.

All of the things you think don't matter, matter most. What you think matters most, may mean nothing at all. People are animals. Savages. It's a concrete jungle out there, and even something as small as a snake in the grass, or a spider in a tree, can take down a lion; the king of the jungle.

I can't wait to chat with everyone. Have a wonderful day!

M.O. LeClair
RWAVProductions

Hello !

My name is Daniel Agranovsky, I am 15 years old and I live in Warwickshire, UK.

Always loved reading books of all genres, and always enjoyed engaging in a bit of creative writing myself.

I have now written my first book, a crime novel about a murder that takes place at a psychology conference in Detroit.

It's live on Amazon and free with Kindle Unlimited:

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Lies-Will-Not-Escape-ebook/dp/B08KNTJ3CN

Got a lot of positive feedback about it from people that know me, but it would be very interesting to hear an unbiased opinion too.

If you can find the time, please give it a read and let me know what you think !

Best Wishes,
Dan.

>137 LeonStevens: Sounds like my bio...

Kindred spirits, eh?

Hello, fellow authors and readers! My new Civil War novel is now in print: "I Jonathan, A Charleston Tale of the Rebellion."

This is my second book. In 2004 I published a childhood memoir, "Growing Up In Eden," about my childhood in Stuart, Florida.

I'm an independent video producer (SouthernRocket.net), and am now focusing on writing.

The story is an adventure-romance hung on the bones of intensively researched history during a dynamic period. South Carolina's Low Country is the venue, and the main character lives through the Great Charleston Fire of 1861, the last great Charleston horse race, Charleston's bombardment, the battles of Secessionville and Fort Wagner, and a run through the Federal blockade.

It's great to be here, and I hope to share with other authors and readers.
-George WB Scott

Hi everyone,

My name is Tawanna. I'm a 40something writer in NJ, though I still think of Baltimore as home. I love reading mysteries (everything from cozies to hard boiled detective) and watching 70s/80s horror movies (the cheesier the better). I've written short stories in a variety of genres: mysteries, erotica, action-adventure, horror, etc. This year, I've written my first full mystery novel. Almost all of my fiction features Black lesbian/queer characters.

Currently, I'm watching a lot of horror movies (t'is the season), experimenting with new recipes and preparing for NaNoWriMo. As a reader, I plan to start Sophie Hannah's The Killings At Kingfisher Hill soon.

Happy to be part of a book loving community.

-Tawanna

Hi All,
My name is Mike Polelle. I discovered my second act in life by becoming a novelist. My debut novel was THE MITHRAS CONSPIRACY pulbished in 2019. The source of inspiration was my many professional and personal contacts with Italy and the study of the Italian language and culture. Scott Turow turned me on to becoming a full-time novelist when he was a speaker at my Media Law Conference in Chicago. I'm at work now on a political thriller that will allow me to use my legal background, I hope to publish it in 2020 I enjoy writing novels because it helps me make sense of my past and the daily events in the "real" world. I've had the weird experience of life imitating art when my "novel" idea in my debut novel for a pope who resigns was usurped by Pope Benedict, the first pope to resign since medival times. So I had to reaarrange the plot to have the pope go into a coma and crossed my fingers this plot twist is truly novel. I look forward to being part of this community.

Be well,
Mike

Hi all,

I'm new here and look forward to connecting with other readers and authors.

In this highly-charged era in US politics, my recent work Dire and Puny:Outside Chump's Blackened House - documenting the workings of the Chump administration - stands to be one of the defining political works of these times.

Note: Be careful not to confuse Dire and Puny with a book of a similar name, Fire and Fury.

Dire and Puny currently has 5 x genuine 5-star reviews on Amazon.

I am known as a savvy and sassy contributor to political discourse,
keen to support public libraries, press freedom, literacy, public health and to expose nefarious nincompoops in office.

Feel free to get to know me over on Twitter here --> https://twitter.com/skewermann
or find my work at any of these locations worldwide:

On Google Play Books
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Martha_Skewermann_Dire_and_Puny?id=g...

On Apple Books
https://books.apple.com/us/book/dire-and-puny/id1490106280

On IndieBound
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780648437901

On Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081S5JLTX

On Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/books/dire-and-puny-outside-chump-s-blackened-house/9780648...

On Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dire-and-puny-martha-skewermann/1135177843?ean=...

On Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/book/438042400/Dire-and-Puny-Outside-Chump-s-Blackened-Ho...

On 24symbols
https://www.24symbols.com/book/english/martha-skewermann/dire-and-puny---outside...

On Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/dire-and-puny

Much love,
Martha Skewermann
Founder, Global Allegorical Journalism Foundation
Chump administration biographer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m Chris Stevenson, using the pen name Christy J. Breedlove for my YA fiction. I hail from Sylvania, Alabama. My early writing accomplishment were multiple hits within a few years: In my first year of writing back in 1987, I wrote three SF short stories that were accepted by major slick magazines which qualified me for the Science Fiction Writers of America, and at the same time achieved a Finalist award in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. This recognition garnered me a top gun SF agent at the time, Richard Curtis Associates. My first novel went to John Badham (Director) and the Producers, the Cohen Brothers. It was an extreme honor to be considered. The writer who beat me out of contention for a feature movie (as well as the book), was Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. My book was called Dinothon.

A year after that I published two best-selling non-fiction books and landed on radio, TV, in every library in the U.S. and in hundreds of newspapers. B. Dalton and Walden Books carried my titles in all of their commercial outlets.

I have been trying to maintain that lightning in a bottle ever since. My YA dystopian novel, The Girl They Sold to the Moon won the grand prize in a publisher's YA novel writing contest, went to a small auction and got tagged for a film option. My latest release, Screamcatcher: Web World, just currently won Best YA title of 2019. I received a 5-Star and badge in the Readers’ Favorite Review Competition, and took the bronze medal in the Reader’s Favorite International Awards Contest for 2020. I have 17 titles appearing on Amazon, the vast majority of them in the adult category.

I have 17 book appearing on Amazon and here is my page: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Harold-Stevenson/e/B001K8UUBK

My name is Duncan MacLeod, and I am a writer of mental health fiction and young adult occult books. Those genres are obscure and/or don't exist, which is one reason why you never heard of me. My mental health fiction is very similar to William Burroughs and Sylvia Plath. Having had a rather involved relationship with the San Francisco Mental Health System, I thought it best to document my journey. Unlike Burroughs, who started off right while he was in the thick of things, I had to spend a decade or two regaining confidence before I could start writing.

The journey to find my writer's voice began in Italian 101, which eventually became my unexpected major in college. I learned the love of literature. I enjoyed learning the parts of speech and grammar. I already was fluent in two other languages besides English, but I hadn't studied them to the extent that I did in Italian at San Francisco State University. When I moved to Los Angeles, a very upbeat and creative city, that's when I found my voice and began writing novels.

I didn't write the mental health books with a mind for commercial viability. I didn't realize how difficult they would be to promote. People who have read those books rave about them and wonder why they don't sell. I'm convinced it's because I'm not writing in a broad genre, and because my marketing tolerance is very low.

The Young Adult series may be easier to sell, once I figure out how to market it. I'm very introverted. I have entered few contests and won no prizes, have only attended Festivals of Books. A writer's conference sounds scary as hell to me. I'm going to honor the person who started this thread and refrain from plugging my books any more than I already have.

My questions to my fellow writers would be about how you market yourself and your books. I do a 1x daily slow drip on Instagram and I have a pretty decent website at duncanwritesbooks.com. How do you get the word out? How much of your energy is devoted to marketing instead of writing?

Your replies are most welcome.

>145 polelle: How funny! Italian was the reason I started writing too. I was stuck in an impacted major, so I just took Italian 101 out of desperation to have enough units to get a Pell Grant. Italian ended up becoming my second major. The first time I visited Italy, I felt like I had lived there for many lifetimes. As someone prone to depression, I find that speaking Italian cheers me up and keeps me from succumbing to my demons. And all the literature inspired me to become a novelist!

Hi my name is Ayush Sharma and I'm from India I recently wrote my first ebook A Journey it's fiction and I started to write only because of a famous book series Goosebumps by R.l. Stine, I suddenly fall in love with this series just after reading the first book and I got inspired to write my own book after reading through such an amazing masterpiece I tried to write a book but it doesn't seem good because the response is not so good but I will try to improve that's all.

Right, so I'm finally back again, and I would really like to stop taking these long hiatuses. I am only managing to be here right now, because I am not doing any writing at all. Boo!

But that leaves me enough energy and brainpower left over to get online. (There's a something good to be found in almost everything?)

>119 GL_Robinson:

GL, I am very pleased to meet you, and I a whole heartedly welcome you to the Hobnob Group, (except of course that you are probably long gone, but I will make an attempt to lure you back.)

I am also a Regency fan. Although I don't remember ever reading any under the covers. By the time I had encountered the genre my parents had essentially given up on trying to regulate either my reading or sleeping habits. My first regency was Heyer's The Grand Sophy.

And I can absolutely stand very British accents, being Canadian and so having grown up on BBC radio programs, and Enid Blyton books. But it may take me a bit to get around to checking on your website, because I have unfortunately fallen very behind here.

My mother is an avid gardener and bemoans the fact that I didn't inherit the tendency. What do you grow?

I have checked out your profile and you appear to have no books added at all. You really should at the very least add your own books so that they are there and people can find them and know they are yours. That's kind of what LibraryThing is about. Afterward, adding your favorite regencies by other authors and a few other favorite books is also highly recommended.

If you need help figuring out how to add books, please let me know.

>120 CThomasCox:
Hey, Thomas, welcome to Hobnob!

(I hope talking with me won't be too painful for you, like most of the professional writers I know, I hire a copyeditor. My posts online aren't at the same level as I can achieve with her help.)

You may want to edit one of the copies of your book in your library to add more tags to it. Tags are a great quick way of letting people know about the book. (They will also "bubble through" to your author pages, so people there will be able to see more about what you've written too.) I strongly suggest at least tagging it with any applicable genres, like Thriller.

I noticed that the only tags you used were to tag the Hunger Games books. Do you not know how to get series information to show up in your catalog? Because the series information is already available for those books, so you don't need to tag them with their series (although you may want to for some reason I don't know about.)

I may be an unusual case, but I'm pretty sure I know much more about IT than I do about backyard homer derbies. (I understand all those words separately!) How old are your boys? By "games" what kinds of games do you mean, exactly? Around my house, we are boardgamers.

I have added you to the Hobnob Author Index under, "Thriller". I hope that's right. There is a location section, too, but I would need to know roughly where you live. (We usually go with closest major city.)

Also, are you using the short story as a promotional item offered free on your website, or anything like that? Because we have a separate list with links to free stories that people here have written.

I promise I will check out your website when I get caught up here. :)

Hi everyone!

I am Ankur, from India, currently living in Norway. I am quite new here, so I am still learning how this website works. (Just now claimed my author page/badge, but still to figure out how exactly to use it or what information is essential to present on the author page.) This summer, I finally had the time and courage to sift through numerous poems, select some promising and more accessible ones and send them to a couple of publishers in hopes of them getting selected: luckily, one of them took the project on, and so I got my first poetry collection published (via the traditional route, not the self-published one). That has been like a lion tasting human meat: I am now trying to break into publishing fiction for children and middle grade. But that's still some way to go, it seems.

It feels nice to "hobnob" with other authors here!

Hi everyone! I enjoy writing humor and recently completed a humorous memoir, "I'll Laugh About This Later". For my future writing endeavors, I'm exploring satire.

I've loved reading since I was a kid, and my first career aspiration was to be an author. At the time, my mom told wee little me to do something that pays more :P. My day job is in the environmental field, which doesn't make boatloads of money either, but keeps me happy.

Hello everyone,

My name is Skylar. I've been writing off and on since I was in the second grade. There was a contest in the second grade that started my writing journey. I lost the first contest, but won every one after that. Back then, many of my stories involved super powers. Today, I prefer to write about romance. However, I may dabble in superpowers/super heroes again. I love to watch shows that involve characters who have super powers, i.e., The Avengers, Justice League, and I'm currently watching My Hero Academia (I'm loving this show). I was doubtful about this show at first, but I enjoy watching or reading about the underdog.

I am a huge fan of the romance genre. I like to read it and watch it as well. There are so many things that I want to read, so my list continues to grow. I'm to read more this year. I was a bit distracted last year.

I currently have two romance novels available. One is a Young Adult Romance, Mine Forever: A Young Adult Romance. I really enjoyed writing this book. It was the first time creating a Young Adult Novel as an adult. I plan to write more. Then I rewrote a book that I originally wrote in 2014. I changed it from first person to third person and changed the ages of the characters Forbidden Acts: A Love Story.

You can take learn more about me and my works here: https://www.amazon.com/Skylar-Nightingale/e/B00OA2JNFC?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&amp...

Thanks for reading my introduction!

Hello. My name is Charlene Johnson. I recently moved from Sacramento, CA to the Northeastern part of Washington State. I haven't been on the site for a while, but I have been busy writing. I write adult paranormal romance and romantic suspense. I've been an avid reader since I was 9 years old. The first book series I ever read was Dark Shadows. Several years ago, I decided to start writing my own books and published my first book in 2018. Since then, I've written and published eight books and several short stories. I enjoy readers' response to my books. It really motivates me. I'm currently working on two books and just finished a short story. I love writing and creating stories and my own worlds. It's a fantastic journey.

HI all....my name is Ron, and I write under the name R. Glenn Kelly. I am new to LT and have much to do to set up my Profile and Books, so I'll scan the forums a lot to get advice.

I have six books I self-published...all on the platform of bereavement and grief healing support. Five are non-fiction and one a fiction that I'm awfully proud of.

So, I'm an Author, a Public Speaker, and a Grief/Life Coach...but first and foremost, I am a bereaved father. In 2013 I lost my sixteen-year-old son and only child to a rare heart defect. I wrote my first book in 2014; Sometime I Cry in the Shower - a Grieving Father's Journey to Wholeness and Healing. After that I began getting invitations to speak at numerous conferences, on national TV, radio, podcasts, and so much more....along the way, I kept writing and either selling or giving my books away at speaking engagements.

I so look forward to being here and interacting with both writers and readers...I know loss is a pretty sensitive subject, but whether you believe we walked from the Garden of Eden or we crawled out of the primordial ooze, losing a loved one has been around since the dawn of life...and I hope to connect with others here who can help me grow s I share my rediscoveries of self, peace, and purpose.

Thanks,

Ron

Hello, my name is Bill. I write under my full name, William Altmann. So far, I have 11 books completed and all up on Amazon and Apple. Most are available as large print paperbacks because that's what my mother can read. My son (kudos to him) has done all my cover designs.

I've had a forty-plus-year career as an electrical engineer, working for companies large and small, established and not out of the womb. It's been fun (at times), interesting (at times), and paid the bills (all the time, so far). It's also provided me with international travel (I will not brag on my country count...), which I love. Put me on a train going anywhere, and I'm happy.

I've semi-retired and moved to Austin, Texas from California. Yeah. Me and thousands of others, it appears. My wife and I moved here to be near our two daughters and ... well, mostly, to be near those grandkids. Our son lives eight time zones to the east, so we have to be on a long, long plane flight to see him ... and his kids. (Please, please, COVID get out of the way!)

I enjoy bike riding (road, not trail), hiking (trail, not road), reading, collecting books and slide rules.

I had dreamt of writing a book for more than 20 years. I started a couple, and they're still in the "incomplete manuscript" stage. Then, last spring, with not enough to do except stare at the keyboard and curse viruses (bio, not techno), I said to myself, "Why not now?" I cranked out a four-book series, beginning with "Emperor First", about a few Presidents, one-after-the-other, with more or less success in their endeavors. In parallel, I wrote five (so far) shorter 'novellas', "The Mary Jane Gang", each set in a senior citizens' residence complex. This one was prompted by phone calls with my mother... Guess which character she is! Then, in the fall, my son and I dared each other to write a sci-fi novel each. I finished mine: "In On a Comet". I have another one finished (it's in editorial review), and a sequel to it in the planning. When my wife got tired of me rolling my eyes at the evening news in January, I wrote a satirical fiction novel, "Escape Pod", about a leader trying to escape justice. It has four alternate endings, all in one volume.

I have lots more ideas. Apparently lots more free time until COVID is gone. And I'm having lots of fun.

See my books on Amazon here https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B089Y78KP1 , and on Apple Books (search by author).

I'm on Goodreads, too. https://www.goodreads.com/william_altmann

And you can find my work and my son's works and my daughter-in-law's work at http://www.altmann.haus.

Hi! I'm J. Aaron Gruben, new here but enjoying learning how everything works.

I've been writing for 20 years on and off since high school, and have so far published 10 of my books. This in-between my full-time job as a veterinarian in Texas, and family life with my wife and kids. The last couple of years I've traveled to conventions with my company Post Tenebras Lux Books - though 2020 changed those plans! I enjoy a wide variety of interests and my books tend to reflect that and are in a variety of genres. I have chivalry school studies, a veterinary case book and veterinary coloring books, an alternate history tale with a time-traveling veterinarian, comedic fantasy novels, and Christian nonfiction. My latest project was writing and illustrating a children's picture book. It's all been fun and rewarding, and I enjoy sharing my creations with readers.

My website: www.nmgrubens.com
My company store: http://www.posttenebrasluxbooks.com
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/aarongruben

Hello new author here. I just recently had published a book of poems and short stories. The title of my book is called Teardrops on the Petals .It consist of short stories and poems. Topics cover love , erotic love, poverty , substance abuse, youth and gun violence, some poems are even religious. One of the short stories centers around an abusive, neglectful mother and how her behaviours effect her daughter and son.The other short story symbolizes beauty in being a misfit or rather not fitting into the so called category of not being conventional, normal , or status quo and how sometimes people can have cruel reactions to something that is different or new
If interested just send me a message here or look me up on FB also my instagram is ajbookauthor

I'm David Musser, a new indie author. I fell into writing during the corvid lockdowns. Wanted something to do besides binge watching netflix or other online service. My first book is called Keep In The Light. It's a horror novella based on a real event that happened when I was a child. I should say loosely based :) it is fiction after all.

My favorite author is Clive Barker. If you want to know more feel free to reach out I am on twitter: dmwebgod and my website is https://keepinthelight.com

I'm new as I've said and for me the hardest parts were not the writing it was putting it in the right format for KDP, Audible and Print Direct.

Hi -

Kevin Casey here, Australian author and publisher. I've been cranking out non-fiction books since 1997, but have only just joined LibraryThing this week. Like many of you, I found myself with some extra time during COVID, so I set out to write a book I've been wanting to get out of my head for years. The end result is 'The Little Encyclopedia of Modern Ignorance', https://books2read.com/u/4EPGO0, released to the world only a couple of days ago.

Early response to the eBook has been absolutely amazing (thank goodness). I've decided to kickstart some honest book reviews, so keep your eye out on the Member Giveaways page for the 50 free review copies I'll start to give away in a day or two.

Cheers,
Kevin Casey

Hello everyone, I'm Natalya (she/her/hers).🌺🤗

I'm a writer and a writing and dissertation coach, a tennis player, an avid reader, and a yoga enthusiast. I take my writing, reading, and cloud watching very seriously.

I'm grateful to be here. Looking forward to making new friends and talking about reading and writing.

I've added a giveaway for my book - 7 Minutes to Freedom: Simple Writing Meditations to Liberate Your Writing and Your Life - and would be so grateful if you would consider rating it.

Writing is a form of flying for me. It has been my teacher and my friend my entire life. I'm feeling very lucky to be its apprentice and disciple. 💖

How do you fly in your life? 🌺👻🌺

>163 NatalyaAndrosova:
Hello Natalya, Welcome to the Hobnob Group!

I'd love to hear more about what you've been reading lately. :)

Um, especially since you have only added your own book to your books, so I actually have no clue about the sorts of things you read at all. As a LibraryThing author it is wise to add books besides your own to LibraryThing. It increases the connections between your books and other books, and it makes it look more like you actually live in this neighborhood, and didn't just drive by so that you could advertise at us. I also strongly recommend adding tags to your book.

I am always delighted to talk to other writers about writing. I'm not entirely certain what you mean when you talk about writing making you fly, though. Writing, especially writing fiction, is something I really enjoy. It makes me happy. Is that the same thing?

If you are a yoga enthusiast, maybe you could recommend a yoga book or app for invalids? I've been using WiiFit for "workouts" for years now, but I'm worried that the Wii is on the verge of collapse. And it can be tough to find exercise tools that are low-key enough to fit the needs of someone suffering from CFS/ME. I love exercising, but it quite literarily makes me sick, so I have to try to be very efficient in what I do.

Anyway, it is nice to meet you! I have entered you into the author index under non-fiction. If you want to me to add you to the location index, you'll need to let me know where you live.

>161 DavidRMusser:
Hi David, nice to meet you!

You have a made a great start on adding books to your library. (We have two book in common, even.) :) To add more books more easily you might want to try using the LT app. It lets you add books by scanning the book's barcode with your phone.

I have added you to the Author index's subject under horror, but I can't add you to the location section unless you let me know roughly where you are. We usually go with closest major city. :)

Besides what you write, we'd like to know a little bit more about you. What do you like to watch on Netflix? (I'm addicted to Asian dramas, myself.) If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on?

>159 jaarongruben:
Hi Aaron, welcome to Hobnob!

Wow, when I added you to the subject index I got to put you all over the place! For your time travelling veterinarian do you want to be added to Science Fiction or to Other Speculative Fiction? I haven't added you to the Location index yet, because Texas is a pretty big place. Could you let us know which city you are closest to? (Entirely optional, of course.)

What art medium did you use for your picture book? I tend to do all my artwork digitally these days, but my daughters are still very fond of traditional mediums like colored pencil and paint. :)

I would like to recommend that you books other than the ones you have written to LibraryThing. If you look at the three posts above this one, you will see why I think this is so important.

You look like a fun author to know, and I hope you come back and chat with us often!

EtA: Apparently I didn't explain why people should add more books in the three posts above this one. Hmmm... maybe I'm more tired than I thought? Anyway, adding more books looks better to LT users, and since many of LT's social features revolve around comparing libraries, it means that your books will have more connections to other books. :)

>164 LShelby: Thanks Shelby,

It's very nice to receive a welcome message.

Thank you for welcoming me and sharing the best ways to participate. I appreciate it because I'm a little lost. Actually, a lot! It took me a long time to set up a profile and to add my book in order to claim the author's status. Took me hours to set up a giveaway and read through different threads and follow people's advice.

Yes! Next I'll be adding my favourite books. I've actually tried adding books to my library and failed. When I clicked the title of the book in the search results, it would go blank and not show that any books were added. I'll have to learn how to do that or find a tutorial.

I've also added sooo many tags to my book. And a description. And you're not able to see them? I see a dozen. How do I make sure they're visible to you?

Yoga is my electronic detox time X) so I wouldn't be able to recommend any apps there. But I get it too. Gives you structure and a clear goal. I just go inside myself and find the movement from within. So, it becomes my yoga flow slash kriya. Whatever my body and soul need at the moment.

Yes, you got it exactly right! Writing is a form of flying because it makes me happy, makes the time stop, takes me to places I've never been, and there's a sense of lightness and flight. I'm sure everyone has a practice that makes them feel this way, and I love hearing about people's creative process. That's why I became a writing coach, so I can talk about writing all the time and hang out with other writers because I find writing and writers fascinating! XD

Anyways, thank you so much for your invite to share more about myself and what I love. And now to figure out how to add books! It'll take me some time to move in here. But it looks like a beautiful place. Thank you for your welcome again! Natalya

Thank you for adding me, and I'm excited to be on your platform. I will try out the bar code scanner. That will help me scan some of my older books, my current reads are all digital... I know I'm one of those :-( but with allergies electronic is the way to go.

I'm in High Point North Carolina. Moved here about 5 months ago and love it.

Netflix, I'm all in for The Blacklist with James Spader. I've watched it a few times and on my way around again with it. For Sci-fi I love the Expanse on Amazon Prime.

Day job the company I work for help's websites, web applications and mobile apps become accessible to people with disabilities and I really love what I do.

Writing started as me having a story to get out... 1 published (Self) and the next 3 inline to be released. Guess more than one story in my brain lol :)

>167 nsandros:
I have double-checked your library, and your author page, and I see the tags in your library, but not on your author page.

The site has been a bit slow because the staff have been rolling out some new improvements, and with new improvements come a bunch of bugs that need to be tracked down and fixed. So for now we should probably not panic, and just assume that the tag information has not yet "bubbled" its way to the work page from your personal book entry. It is something we should keep an eye on, though. If they haven't appeared within a few more days we should make a bug report.

But not being able to add books to your library is really strange. And something that would get reported right away if it is happening system-wide. (Also I just added a book myself that I finished reading this morning.) So I will post a message on your wall, and will work with you trying to get this figured out.

About the yoga -- as you guessed, I really need the structure. Because of my illness, giving way to my natural inclinations (I'm one of those throw yourself into things type people) is actually dangerous. I envy your freedom to just go with the flow! One of my friends that recently moved away liked taking yoga classes the best, because it got her out of the house, and interacting with other people. I guess yoga is a lot like writing, everyone does it differently! :D

About flying -- when my daughter was applying for college, one of the things she was asked was "What activity makes you lose track of time?" So I guess you aren't the only person who thinks that everyone must have something. :) For me there are several things: writing, coding, art, music, crafts. (But not baking, which I think is the one my daughter picked for her application.)

As far as writing process goes, I do both plots and characters subconsciously, so I have trouble talking about those two processes. Mostly I go, "Um, well, you take some interesting characters and put them in an interesting situation, and watch what happens". My backbrain really doesn't seem to care if it is plotting things in advance, or on the fly, or to fit a predetermined structure, which is nice. What isn't nice is that making changes is hard -- I have to convince my subconscious to allow it. I remember when one of my daughters pointed out that two of my works that she had written used the same trope, and I realized that another book in my to-write queue also used that same trope, and it took me weeks to convince my back-brain that lack of variety was a valid story problem and that it really truly needed to come up with something new and different. ::rueful::

As far as the actual putting words down goes, if I am feeling well enough to write, I do so in the morning when I have the most energy. I can write about a 1500 words a day pretty consistently, but if I push too hard, I crash. (Darn CFS anyway.) Right now I am recovering from a crash, and so I have been catching up on LibraryThing rather than doing any writing.

What about you? What's your usual process?

ETA: I may have discovered your location, while I was on your profile, but I don't add people to the Location section of the index unless they announce their location here, because sometimes people are sensitive about that. :)

>168 DavidRMusser:
Aha! A web developer. Any advice for us writers creating websites for ourselves?
(I have the biggest, coolest, most elaborate website ever for an author nobody has heard of, but its always outdated because I build it myself as a hobby. I've been in the middle of doing a major coding overhaul for... um... years. ::sigh:: )

It looks to me like your viewing tastes run pretty much on par to your reading tastes.
When I got sick I ended up watching things that I probably wouldn't have read, because they were available and I was desperate. But having watched them, I started inventing my own stories of the same type. :)

Do you think your viewing impacts your writing much, or is it mostly only a book to book thing for you?

I am so hearing you on the "more than one story in my brain" thingy. I even wrote a song about it. (Really truly. I write songs. I don't promise that they are any good, but I write them. The one about all the stories is a sad song, but one line always gets a laugh, "I spend my days in striving to bring them to the light, only to find their numbers have expanded over night".)

Are your stories separate from each other, or a series?

>162 Kevin_Casey:
Hi Kevin! Nice to meet you!

I am delighted that your latest release is doing well. (Always nice to find a few silver linings in all the clouds.)

If you haven't already (sometimes it takes a little bit to show up) you may want to claim your author page. You do this by clicking on your name as it appears as an author in Your Books. That takes you to your author page. Then in the sidebar there should be a link that says "Is this you?". Claiming your author page doesn't do a lot, it just gives you a badge and links your profile page to your author page and vice-versa. But I personally find that link really, really helpful. :)

I notice that you have only added books by yourself to LibraryThing. It is always wise for authors to add books by other people. There reasons for this are many. First it just looks better to the LT regulars. Secondly, LT has many social features such as automatic book recommendations, similar libraries and so forth that rely on comparing libraries to each other. If you no other books in your library, nobody can find you and your books through the books the two of your share.

Often when I tell people this they go and add a bunch of bestsellers to their library, but this isn't as effective as one might think. The more popular a book is, the weaker its connections to other books are. So the best books to add are ones that are related in some way to what you right, but although less well known, are particularly beloved by you. Those are the types of books that tend to make the strongest connections.

I am curious as to what you do when not writing... or perhaps that is, what you used to do that you were forced to give up due to Covid?

Also, although I added you to the author index, Australia is a bit broad to place you in the Location section. So if you want to be added to there I need something a little less broad. We usually go by closest major city. (Always optional.)

If you need any help navigating the site let me know, and welcome to Hobnob!

>158 calbookaddict:
Hi Bill, it's great to meet you!

I don't think I've ever seen a new author appear here with such a great looking library. Looks like you've been an LTer almost as long as I have. But somehow we only have one book in common. It's about the building of the Panama Canal. Have you read anything else about great engineering marvels in history you could recommend to me?

Although your library is in good shape, I couldn't see the benefit of your son's efforts in cover design when I clicked through to your book pages. All the ones I tried showed generic covers. Do you know how to add cover images manually?
You also might want to add some Common Knowledge and Series information to your Book pages and your Author page. :)

I ended up writing less during COVID, so I'm a bit envious of your output.

I have added you to the 2021 Author index under Contemporary Fiction and Science Fiction. If you think you should be listed under any additional genres let me know.

I know the group probably seemed pretty dead to you lately. Somehow that always happens whenever I am sick for a long time. Things should pick up now that I'm back. ::crosses fingers:: I hope you'll keep us up to date with what all you are writing on the Authors, what are you working on?" thread. And maybe join in on some of our discussion threads.

Welcome to Hobnob!

>155 Skylar_NIghtingale:
Hi Skylar, nice to meet you.

I'm familiar with My Hero Academia. Deku is a lot of fun, even if he is the underdog. Do you have a favorite Avenger or Justice League member? If so, what is it about them that particularly appeals to you?

I'm a fan of love stories, but I tend to like them better when they are combined with some other kind of plot. So from my pov, the best thing would be if you wrote about romances between people with superpowers. :) What do you think, is it an idea with potential?

(Myself I write about romances between female diesel mechanics and foreign princes, between space pirates, and between courtiers in tropical palaces.)

Do you have any hobbies besides reading? Would you be willing to tell us something about your family or where you live?
Could you do me a favor, and when you see this, check to see if Forbidden Acts: A Love Story is listed on your author page?

I also recommend add more books to your library than just your books alone. This has many benefits, like making your books more findable, and giving potential readers a better idea of what kinds of literature you, the author, are familiar with and fond of.

I have added you to the Author Index under Romance, but I can't add you to the Location section unless you let me know roughly where you live -- the nearest major city is what we usually go by.

Welcome to Hobnob! I hope you will join in the general conversation in other threads. :)

>154 zoeyza:
Hello there, welcome to the Hobnob Group!

I love funny books, so I'm always happy to meet a humour author. IMNSHO, the world could use more funny books.

For me, it was my father strongly recommending that I become a programmer instead of writer. That probably would have made me decent money, but I decided to study ecology instead so that I could become a poor forest ranger writing books in my spare time in a lonely log cabin up in the mountains. Alas, in the end I became disabled, and the whole question of how I was going to support myself became moot.

So if it's a memoir does any environmental stuff work itself into it? Do you spend much time outside, or is it a desk-job type of environmental job? Do you have any other hobbies?

You might want to add tags to your book to indicate a little more clearly what its about. It should, at the very least be tagged as memoir and humour and then whatever else seems important and relevant. The book tags end up on the author page also. Another good thing to do is to add a whole bunch more books besides your own. That gives your books some social connections and shows browsers what sorts of books you read and so forth.

I have added you to the Author Index under Humor and Non-fiction, and I'll add you to the Location section if you let me know what major city you live closest to. :)

I look forward to chatting with you!

>153 ankurwriter:
Hi there Ankur, nice to meet you.

I'm afraid you probably haven't had much of a chance to do a lot of hobnobbing here. The group gets very slow when I'm not around. Sorry about that. Hopefully you will be willing to try us again.

You appear to have an issue with your author page. The link on your profile goes to an empty page, and when you click on your name as it appears on your book in your library (I assume that was your book) you are taken to a split author page that doesn't have any splits.

I can fix this, but first I need you to click on your name in Your Books, and find that split author page, and verify which of the books on that page was written by you. Okay? (If you'd rather make the changes yourself, let me know and I'll talk you through the process.) I prefer to not add people to the author index until after I've got these sorts of issues sorted out, so lets get that done first. Okay?

What sorts of children's books are you hoping to write. More poetry?

Are you enjoying the Norwegian climate? I imagine it's a lot different from what you are used to.

Welcome to the Hobnob group!

>175 LShelby:
Hi L. Shelby!

Thanks so much for a warm welcome! Nice to meet you, too!

I hadn't noticed that my author page leads to a blank page! The book I've written is called The Four Colors (https://www.librarything.com/work/25126965) - and that's the only one so far. I haven't still understood how to fix things here, so if you could do that for me, that'd be wonderful! Please do let me know if there're still some issues.

No, instead of poetry, I am planning to write some fiction (novels). A bit of science fiction wedded in.

I enjoy cold climate as long as it's not cold and windy and dripping, so I am enjoying the eastern Norway climate. But I do miss the monsoon in particular, and in general the balmy breeze of an Indian spring and summer.

>176 ankurwriter:
What seems to have happened is that you entered your book as being by just Ankur, but the other LT members that entered your book used Amazon as their source and Amazon has your book listed as being by Ankur Agarwal. Since there were more listings for a different author name, the book moved to that author page.

Your plans for the future sound fun -- science fiction and YA are two of my own genres, so I'm especially interested. I hope you will keep us up-to-date with your progress on the Authors, what are you working on? thread.

Balmy breezes do sound pleasant. We've been doing wind storms around here in Ohio -- had two trees knocked down across the bike path just last week.

I hope you will take a look at and participate in some of the other discussion threads we have going in the group. :)