Stephanie Abrams's Blog
August 2, 2014
Quarterly Black Review Give RUMORS 4-Star Rating!
The Quarterly Black Review (www.qbr.com) which is the official website of the Harlem Book Fair generally publishes reviews of books by and about African-American authors and Black issues in every genre of literature. Because some of my characters are African-American, my book caught the attention of Max Rodriguez, the CEO and Founder of the Harlem Book Fair, which partnered with Columbia University this year, and QBR. The result is that I was invited to present "RUMORS" at the Harlem Book Fair on July 12, 2014 at the Fiction Main Stage and the organization had the book reviewed and the review posted at qbr.com. Ask how proud I am that they gave RUMORS a 4-star rating! The reviewer noted:
"The writing is smart, humorous and at times witty. The author does especially well in moving the story forward through dialogue between her thoroughly-shaped characters. even when not in conflict, tension is palpable. . . Certainly an entertaining read. . ."
I hope that you'll treat yourself to a print or e-book edition of RUMORS and let me know what you thought of it by posting a review. I would love to chat with you about it!
Hugs,
Stephanie Abrams
"The writing is smart, humorous and at times witty. The author does especially well in moving the story forward through dialogue between her thoroughly-shaped characters. even when not in conflict, tension is palpable. . . Certainly an entertaining read. . ."
I hope that you'll treat yourself to a print or e-book edition of RUMORS and let me know what you thought of it by posting a review. I would love to chat with you about it!
Hugs,
Stephanie Abrams
June 2, 2013
Did You Read "The Spectacular Now?"
I've invested this weekend in attending the 8th Annual Berkshire International Film Festival (www.biffma.org). Since Friday evening, I have seen 3 feature films and one short film (12 minutes long that was fantastic) and will be seeing a bunch of short features today plus 2 feature films.
Yesterday I say "English Vinglish," a fantastic film that is a 21st century analysis of the Fiddler on the Roof in that it deals with a woman from India coming to visit her sister in NYC and realizing that traditions, normalcy in her life, language challenges for this lovely lady who speaks almost no English, confront he low self-esteem and realization that life in NYC is very different from the sheltered world she lives in. The producers will be doing an interview with me tomorrow that we hope to broadcast next weekend on Travelers411. You can get the film from Netflix and you will LOVE it!
So far the other outstanding film was The Spectacular Now which is based on a book by Tim Tharp. Read it now because the film has been picked up for distribution and in August will debut across America. After that you'll be able to buy the dvd or Netflix it! But you might want to read the book first. The film is amazingly well done and is much in the genre of Breakfast Club, Circle of Friends and the other films about coming of age in America's suburbs delving into the family relationships, backgrounds, friendships and confusions of teens in which some fall off the track and other stay focused on the ultimate goals of being strong and independent people regardless of the obstacles life has thrown in their way. The young actors are AMAZING and the film is excellent! Read the book now! But note that I'm told the ending of the book is not the same as the ending of the film!
I'm hoping to have one of the producers, who is also one of the screeplay writers, Mark Weber, on the air with me to discuss the film and his travels with me and my radio audiences on Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams and Travlers411. He is now in possession of a copy of RUMORS and you never know where that might go. RUMORS would make a great film. There are some truly spectacular visuals in RUMORS and,for a team that has already written a screenplay that is wrapped around the word SPECTACULAR, RUMORS just might ring their bell! I hope you read both!!
I'm off to the cinema now. Too bad it's not a rainy day here. We had almost 2 straight weeks of gray and rainy weather. Now that I'm spending the weekend mostly in the theater, the skies are gorgeous, the breezes are balmy and the temperature is perfect PLUS the boat in the lake and I'll be in the theater. What's up with that!
Yesterday I say "English Vinglish," a fantastic film that is a 21st century analysis of the Fiddler on the Roof in that it deals with a woman from India coming to visit her sister in NYC and realizing that traditions, normalcy in her life, language challenges for this lovely lady who speaks almost no English, confront he low self-esteem and realization that life in NYC is very different from the sheltered world she lives in. The producers will be doing an interview with me tomorrow that we hope to broadcast next weekend on Travelers411. You can get the film from Netflix and you will LOVE it!
So far the other outstanding film was The Spectacular Now which is based on a book by Tim Tharp. Read it now because the film has been picked up for distribution and in August will debut across America. After that you'll be able to buy the dvd or Netflix it! But you might want to read the book first. The film is amazingly well done and is much in the genre of Breakfast Club, Circle of Friends and the other films about coming of age in America's suburbs delving into the family relationships, backgrounds, friendships and confusions of teens in which some fall off the track and other stay focused on the ultimate goals of being strong and independent people regardless of the obstacles life has thrown in their way. The young actors are AMAZING and the film is excellent! Read the book now! But note that I'm told the ending of the book is not the same as the ending of the film!
I'm hoping to have one of the producers, who is also one of the screeplay writers, Mark Weber, on the air with me to discuss the film and his travels with me and my radio audiences on Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams and Travlers411. He is now in possession of a copy of RUMORS and you never know where that might go. RUMORS would make a great film. There are some truly spectacular visuals in RUMORS and,for a team that has already written a screenplay that is wrapped around the word SPECTACULAR, RUMORS just might ring their bell! I hope you read both!!
I'm off to the cinema now. Too bad it's not a rainy day here. We had almost 2 straight weeks of gray and rainy weather. Now that I'm spending the weekend mostly in the theater, the skies are gorgeous, the breezes are balmy and the temperature is perfect PLUS the boat in the lake and I'll be in the theater. What's up with that!
May 30, 2013
Body-Invasion by Book-Writing Ghosts
Don't be shy! I'd love to hear what's on your mind today for my Q&A even if you haven't had a chance to read RUMORS yet. Maybe our chatting will results in motivating you to experience RUMORS as others have. The reviews have wowed me! So we can talk about anything on your mind and try not to giveaway the whole story so it's an unspoiled experience for new readers.
This was my first novel and the second, SECRET, already has an outline and some of the scenes, particularly the last page of the book, already written. I'm very comfortable knowing exactly where the story is going and who most of the characters will be and how the story will unfold. No chance of the dreaded Writers' Block when you take that approach.
If you're inching closer to writing a novel or are interested in the process, I'd love to chat with you about that too. I found it fascinating in that there were times when I was so zoned in that I felt like the vessel through which the characters wrote the story and delivered it to the pages! Oddest feeling!
One night, at 11pm, my husband wanted to watch the news before we went to bed. I said, "I'll just go into my study and write for 30 minutes and then come to bed too."
I wrote for a bit and then realized that it was very bright in the hallway outside my study. I thought my husband must have left the lights on in the rooms surrounding the study, forgetting to turn them out before he went to bed. So I got up planning to turn out the lights and go back to finish the paragraph I was writing.
What I discovered is that the sun had come up and it was 6am! I had no idea I had been sitting in that desk chair for 7 hours! Talk about zoned out!
I'll be in my office all day today to be here to talk with you! I look forward to seeing you arrive. . .
Hugs,
Stephanie
This was my first novel and the second, SECRET, already has an outline and some of the scenes, particularly the last page of the book, already written. I'm very comfortable knowing exactly where the story is going and who most of the characters will be and how the story will unfold. No chance of the dreaded Writers' Block when you take that approach.
If you're inching closer to writing a novel or are interested in the process, I'd love to chat with you about that too. I found it fascinating in that there were times when I was so zoned in that I felt like the vessel through which the characters wrote the story and delivered it to the pages! Oddest feeling!
One night, at 11pm, my husband wanted to watch the news before we went to bed. I said, "I'll just go into my study and write for 30 minutes and then come to bed too."
I wrote for a bit and then realized that it was very bright in the hallway outside my study. I thought my husband must have left the lights on in the rooms surrounding the study, forgetting to turn them out before he went to bed. So I got up planning to turn out the lights and go back to finish the paragraph I was writing.
What I discovered is that the sun had come up and it was 6am! I had no idea I had been sitting in that desk chair for 7 hours! Talk about zoned out!
I'll be in my office all day today to be here to talk with you! I look forward to seeing you arrive. . .
Hugs,
Stephanie
Special Congratulations to April in Las Vegas for winning RUMORS!
So excited for April in Las Vegas who won the signed copy of my new novel RUMORS! I can't wait to hear your personal response to it!
There is currently a RUMORS book giveaway and 2 copies of RUMORS are available. There are a couple of weeks left to enter to win at Goodreads.com so jump in before it's too late! At the moment, the odds of winning are very good!
There is currently a RUMORS book giveaway and 2 copies of RUMORS are available. There are a couple of weeks left to enter to win at Goodreads.com so jump in before it's too late! At the moment, the odds of winning are very good!
May 24, 2013
RUMORS Blog Tour Hosted by The Book Enthusiast Ends Tomorrow
The blog tour for RUMORS hosted by The Book Enthusiast ends tomorrow and what a thrilling ride it has been. The reviews of RUMORS has been outstanding with ratings like "4.5 Juicy Stars" from one reviewer and comments like the one from Mary Elizabeth's Crazy Book Obsession blog site:
"I would recommend this book not for just the story but for its uniqueness. It is far from the typical romance, mystery, or drama you may be used to."
. . .to Who You Calling a Book Whore's blog site reporting:
"Holy wow!! This book was really good and something like I have never read before! It makes me wonder if things like this really happen.
SO now let me tell you this was a great book!
. . . to Sweet Treat Blog site's review starting with: "Let me start by saying wow…..just wow."
And all I can say about The Book Enthusiast's making this wonderful week happen is THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTIC JOB WELL DONE! And we're not done yet! Tomorrow is the last day and we'll see what the last two book review blog sites have to say! Stay tuned!
"I would recommend this book not for just the story but for its uniqueness. It is far from the typical romance, mystery, or drama you may be used to."
. . .to Who You Calling a Book Whore's blog site reporting:
"Holy wow!! This book was really good and something like I have never read before! It makes me wonder if things like this really happen.
SO now let me tell you this was a great book!
. . . to Sweet Treat Blog site's review starting with: "Let me start by saying wow…..just wow."
And all I can say about The Book Enthusiast's making this wonderful week happen is THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTIC JOB WELL DONE! And we're not done yet! Tomorrow is the last day and we'll see what the last two book review blog sites have to say! Stay tuned!
May 19, 2013
Tonight 6-9pm Hear Travel WIITH Stephanie Abrams
If you can't find a station near you tonight between 6pm and 9pm ET, go to www.sabrams.com and click on Listen Now (or is it Listen Live) to Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams. We have some super guests on from Ireland, California, a film festival and more! But you'll also hear some spots for my novel, "RUMORS," which should put you in the mood and motivate you to read it!
Hugs,
S.
Hugs,
S.
BTW: Follow Me at Twitter. . .
I hope you'll sign up to follow me on Twitter @ iTripU and become a friend/fan and like my facebook page at www.facebook.com/stephanie.abrams.94
and you just might want to follow my blog at my official website. Here's the link to that blog: http://www.sabrams.com/blog.
My photo at facebook shows me with a 6 week old Golden Retriever puppy that was part of a litter of 10 pups born in County Clare, Ireland. The woman who owned the "mom" breeds dogs that go into guide dog service for blind people in Ireland. My husband and I were driving on the Burren Coastal Road on our way back to Galway from the Cliffs of Moher when I saw two women, each walking a Golden Retriever. Some break for squirrels and ice cream shops. . . we break for people with beautiful dogs! So we stopped the car and got out to meet the ladies and their fluffy friends.
They told me that one dog was theirs and the other they were walking for a friend who lived on the waterfront coast road about a block away AND that she was home tending to her female retriever who had a litter of pups 6 weeks earlier. Because it was Ireland where everybody is amazingly friendly, I followed their instruction to go to the house and just go in if no one answers the door as they are probably in the backyard (of course, they said,"in the garden," where you'll find her and the mom of the 10 pups as well as the pudgy brood.
If you are a dog lover, imagine sitting on the grass, surrounded by a lovely cutting garden of colorful and aromatic flowers, with ten puppies climbing in your lap, on your shoulder, up your legs, . . . truly a moment in Dog Heaven.
That photo freezes that moment in time and is such a happy memory to crawl into on a day when things are not completely right with the world.
You can see the photo album with the puppies at this link:http://www.sabrams.com/photoGallery/g...
There is a full page of photos at that url and if you go to the next page there are more including photos of the 9-12 year old girls who came over after school each day to help take care of the puppies, mostly play with them and have a glass of milk and some cookies (biscuits). At seven weeks, the pups were farmed out to families for a year to each raise one in a loving atmosphere before they went off to be trained as service dogs. How lucky for me to have stumbled in on the right week! Ah, the joys of traveling!
and you just might want to follow my blog at my official website. Here's the link to that blog: http://www.sabrams.com/blog.
My photo at facebook shows me with a 6 week old Golden Retriever puppy that was part of a litter of 10 pups born in County Clare, Ireland. The woman who owned the "mom" breeds dogs that go into guide dog service for blind people in Ireland. My husband and I were driving on the Burren Coastal Road on our way back to Galway from the Cliffs of Moher when I saw two women, each walking a Golden Retriever. Some break for squirrels and ice cream shops. . . we break for people with beautiful dogs! So we stopped the car and got out to meet the ladies and their fluffy friends.
They told me that one dog was theirs and the other they were walking for a friend who lived on the waterfront coast road about a block away AND that she was home tending to her female retriever who had a litter of pups 6 weeks earlier. Because it was Ireland where everybody is amazingly friendly, I followed their instruction to go to the house and just go in if no one answers the door as they are probably in the backyard (of course, they said,"in the garden," where you'll find her and the mom of the 10 pups as well as the pudgy brood.
If you are a dog lover, imagine sitting on the grass, surrounded by a lovely cutting garden of colorful and aromatic flowers, with ten puppies climbing in your lap, on your shoulder, up your legs, . . . truly a moment in Dog Heaven.
That photo freezes that moment in time and is such a happy memory to crawl into on a day when things are not completely right with the world.
You can see the photo album with the puppies at this link:http://www.sabrams.com/photoGallery/g...
There is a full page of photos at that url and if you go to the next page there are more including photos of the 9-12 year old girls who came over after school each day to help take care of the puppies, mostly play with them and have a glass of milk and some cookies (biscuits). At seven weeks, the pups were farmed out to families for a year to each raise one in a loving atmosphere before they went off to be trained as service dogs. How lucky for me to have stumbled in on the right week! Ah, the joys of traveling!
BlogTour for RUMORS Starts Today!
How very exciting that The BookEnthusiast Promotions is hosting a weeklong Blog Tour for my first novel, RUMORS. A very special warm welcome to all of you who have added me as an author whose reviews you are following and who have read RUMORS already or have put it on you Top Shelf to read. From the responses that RUMORS has been getting, I suspect you will find characters in the story to love, hate, identify with and enjoy and it "all starts with RUMORS." You can follow the blog tour at http://www.thebookenthusiast.com
On Valentine's Day this year, when the publisher's ink was barely dry on RUMORS, I wrote the outline for the next in what I hope will be a series. The next novel, which carries some of the characters forward and introduces others, is called SECRET. . ."and everyone has one."
Now I need to start putting meat on the skeleton of SECRET, which I hope will start with intensity on June 1st! I need to finish a travel guide to Ireland that I'd like to get to the publisher before the end of this month. . . probably more wishful thinking as it's very difficult to do serious writing while producing 6 hours of new radio travel show programming weekly and trying to live a life that's not anchored in a chair at a desk! Check out my travels at www.sAbrams.com.
But SECRET has plots and characters trying to break out into the world and it's only through my fingertips that they'll be freed!
When you read RUMORS, aside from my obvious interest in your reaction to the book, I'd love to know which of the characters you'd like to be sure are included in SECRET. There may be someone you'd like to follow that I don't currently have on the list for SECRET so now is your chance to speak up so I can give serious thought as to that character's inclusion if he/she is not currently in the outline!
I'm off to the first day of Rumors Blog Tour now!
Rumors
On Valentine's Day this year, when the publisher's ink was barely dry on RUMORS, I wrote the outline for the next in what I hope will be a series. The next novel, which carries some of the characters forward and introduces others, is called SECRET. . ."and everyone has one."
Now I need to start putting meat on the skeleton of SECRET, which I hope will start with intensity on June 1st! I need to finish a travel guide to Ireland that I'd like to get to the publisher before the end of this month. . . probably more wishful thinking as it's very difficult to do serious writing while producing 6 hours of new radio travel show programming weekly and trying to live a life that's not anchored in a chair at a desk! Check out my travels at www.sAbrams.com.
But SECRET has plots and characters trying to break out into the world and it's only through my fingertips that they'll be freed!
When you read RUMORS, aside from my obvious interest in your reaction to the book, I'd love to know which of the characters you'd like to be sure are included in SECRET. There may be someone you'd like to follow that I don't currently have on the list for SECRET so now is your chance to speak up so I can give serious thought as to that character's inclusion if he/she is not currently in the outline!
I'm off to the first day of Rumors Blog Tour now!
Rumors
