Jenifer Mohammed's Blog: Resurrecting Jenifer Mohammed - A Life Lived is a Life of Evolution

Dear Readers,

I have had such an exciting few days!

First, Resurrecting Cybele is now available as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. I worked with an amazing narrator, Michelle Marie, who made the characters come alive. It took several months to complete but the time was well spent. I hope you love hearing her performance in the Resurrecting Cybele audiobook as much as I do.

Second, I have finally joined Twitter. My handle is @MohammedJenifer. For those of you who wish to follow me, I would be happy to follow you back as well.

I am looking forward to interacting with all of you on Twitter in the future.

All the best,
Jenifer

So, there I was just minding my own business killing time on Facebook and I saw a wonderful and enthusiastic review of my novel Resurrecting Cybele that a former student of mine had left on iTunes and then reposted on Facebook. Right now, in Winnipeg, it is cold and raining, and it seems like spring will never come. Despite my best efforts to look on the bright side that at least there was no snow left on the ground, I was feeling a little down. Then I saw this review and it was like rays of sunshine pierced the clouds and brightened my day.

Below is the review exactly as Laura Soriano posted on iTunes and then on Facebook.

"Hey! I read this cool book and felt like posting this! Must read if you want to keep being my friend haha jk!

Resurrecting Cybele will definitely lower your mental inhibitions. I think the way the story was developed is brilliant. A lot of unexpected things happen. I really enjoyed the female empowerment. Matriarchy definitely felt sweet whenever she spoke in the rituals and loved the symbolisms. You can actually feel empowered.


I related to almost ALL the characters,

I really loved Cassie since the moment she decided to stay out of trouble. I wish I had been Cassie many times in life! Cassie seems to be a really good friend. Although she doubted a little bit too much by believing Cyb was delusional. I would love to have a friend like Cybele. I liked hearing Cybele expressing herself when she was feeling concerned.

"You are the most wildly romantic person I know. Idealism seeps through every pore of your body" That’s how Cassie described Cyb.

Janus! What a smart guy! I wish I was as good as Janus playing his games. He has like super powers. Unfortunately I really suck at that and you always end up hurt. Better not to attempt it, Janus was a good reminder of that. His emotional detachment was thrilling in the story

I also felt identified with Achates, a successful lawyer. Not sure why but I was actually happy when he broke up with Janus at the very beginning. As opposed to Achates I would love to be surrounded by Cybele's kind in my professional and personal life.

And finally Cybele! Cybele is a such a sweetheart!! Although she denies being a good person at the beginning, as if she was ashamed to admit it, she actually is. Very unique, smart, talkative and wise. She is has an awesome sense of humor and the best of all is that she loves wine! I relate myself in her attempts to defend her moral code.

Gabe… He's too good. I couldn't avoid feeling jealous of Gabe. That Gabe doesn’t leave any vacancies open haha. But what can you do!.

Oh and not to forget the mindless minions hahaha. They played a very important role throughout the story. It is a good reminder to beware of brain-washers.
This book gives a lot to talk about and certainly revived me.

I got my money’s worth" - Laura Soriano.

Although I try hard not to take reviews personally as everyone's reading tastes are different, it's still wonderful to realize that I created something which had a positive impact on and empowered another person. To return the favour, let me say, thank-you, Laura, for lifting my spirits as well with your enthusiasm for my book.

Happy Star Wars Day to all my fans who are also avid viewers of The Big Bang Theory. As it is May 4, all I can say is, "May the fourth be with you." ;-)

Special Smashwords.com Sale for a Very Limited Promotional Time:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

At one minute past midnight Pacific time on March 2, the special Smashwords Read an Ebook Week promotion catalog goes live on the Smashwords home page. Readers can browse the catalog and search by coupon code levels and categories. At the stroke of midnight Pacific time at the end of the day on March 8, the catalog disappears.

My book Resurrecting Cybele will be 25% off for this special promotional time. See below link if you are interested in purchasing it during this promotional period. Remember, use the coupon code REW25 to get the 25% discount at checkout.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

Best,
Jenifer

Today, while teaching Frankenstein to one of my 5 horror classes that I am teaching this term, one of my students said to me at the end of class, "Why does Frankenstein have to be so boring?"

My mouth dropped open in surprise and dismay that anyone could possibly think Frankenstein was boring. However, I did not tell my student he was wrong to feel the way he did. I explained that I understood the language could be a barrier for him to enjoying the book and that he should try to focus on the things he could find to like in the story in order to be able to finish the book. I reminded him that Frankenstein would be on the final exam as testable material so that he should do his best to find as much as possible in it that he could talk about in an essay.

As I walked back to my office, I realized that authors need to be able to accept criticism of their books the way that I accepted the student's criticism of one of my absolutely favourite books that I choose to teach maybe 8-10 times in a year.

I am on Goodreads as both an author and a reader. Today, I've been reading on my Updates page comments from readers who have been singled out and attacked by authors and their fans/friends for reviews they have made of those authors' books. Readers should never be attacked for their personal opinions about what they read. As a reader, I demand the right to voice my opinion about what I have read without worrying that I will be personally attacked by others who may disagree with me.

As an author, I have to remember that I am NOT my book. I am not being personally attacked when someone criticizes what I have written. My book may feel like my baby but it is NOT my baby. Once I set free my book in the world, whether others like or hate it is up to them and not for me to try and control. It may hurt my pride to know that not everyone will love what I have written but so what. That's the risk that all artists take when they create art and put it out in the public sphere. If you don't want to play the game, take your toys and go home.

Trust me, I know that this advice is easier said than done but it must be done if you as an author are to survive publishing your book.

I had a first-hand experience of this need to remember that your reader has a right to his or her own opinion. A few months ago, a dear friend who had spent her hard-earned money to buy my book and then use some of her valuable time to start reading my book, walked up to me and said, "Wow. Janus is a real asshat," isn't he?"

My initial reaction was to wince inside but instead of trying to defend Janus (the villain) and explain how I had tried to make him understandable and still likeable, I said, "I can see why you would think that. He does some really bad things in the story."

Be thankful that people bought your story and then wrote a review for it. Don't attack them because remember, reviews may come and go, but the internet is forever! If you as an author attack your readers, how on earth do you expect to acquire new readers? Bad behaviour is punished not rewarded by those readers with hard-earned money that they choose to spend on books.

I know bad reviews can be painful to read. As a teacher, my students do course evaluations at the end of every course I teach. That means I have been evaluated by thousands of students in the last ten years on my teaching abilities. Some of them really, really hate me and some of them really, really love me and some of them are indifferent.

I don't take the reviews personally. I am grateful for the love, read the negative ones to see if there are things that I can change or improve (after all, I'm not perfect), and ignore the ones that are hateful.

I found that the only way to be happy as a teacher and now as an author is to have a thick skin and remember: it's not about you, it's about your work.

Dear authors, don't attack your readers: after all, you're a reader too, not just an author.

Remember, reviews may come and go but the internet and bad behaviour is forever.

I have always had two passions deep within me, the passion to teach and the passion to write. For so many years, I have fuelled the fires to teach and let the fires to write flicker and slowly be dampened. I love teaching but it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to do well. So, for many years, I have been directing the majority of my creative efforts towards teaching even though there were stories deep inside me that were crying out to be written. I kept promising myself that someday I would find the time to write, but I always found good reasons to put that time off to some distant future.

I, sometimes, think I would have felt a greater incentive to carve out the time to write if I had seen writing as a way to escape from the daily grind of life. Alas, I love my life. I wake up every day excited to go to work - after all, I get paid for discussing literature and films with other people. What could be better than that? It took me many years to discover the answer to that question.

Sometimes, being so content in one’s life can be a definite impediment to change. I always knew that I could make a comfortable living teaching at the University of Manitoba and satisfy my need for change by continually creating new courses and teaching in different faculties. That took away the possibility of change occurring as a result of a negative situation in my life. Thus, I had to find a positive reason to make a change in my life, to become the writer that I had always known I was.

Eventually, I realized the sand in the oyster did not have to be an irritant but could be an enhancer; the sand could represent potential, the desire to create something better in my life. The hard part now is trying to find the balance between the need to make a living and the desire to satisfy all of my innermost passions. I still want to teach as it is a huge part of who I am, but I also want to send my stories out there for the world to read. That, of course, means I am going to have to carve out the time in my life to write them. So, this year, I have made the choice to cut down on my teaching load and use that additional precious gift of time to make changes in my life and resurrect the author within.

It takes courage to make a change when you have fallen in a rut that is comfortable and makes you content. However, I did find the answer to my question, what could be better than getting paid to discuss literature and films with other people? The answer is when the literature being discussed is something you have written.

Last fall, I finally published my first indie e-novel Resurrecting Cybele, which is about a woman who is unhappy in her life and makes the decision to recreate her reality in order to resurrect her life. As I now put on my publicist hat, I hope you will indulge me as I pitch Resurrecting Cybele to all my potential readers out there.

Once upon a time there was a female graduate student named Cybele who was extremely frustrated because she had not found her true passion in life. Every day, she thought of fun and interesting ways to make money and have a more exciting life. One day, she decided to resurrect an ancient Mother Goddess cult with herself as the High Priestess of her own religion. Because of that, she got suspected of being an eco-terrorist and being investigated by the Winnipeg Police Service. Because of that, her best friend decided to re-enact an apocalyptic ending to her cult in order to get rid of any evidence tying the cult to eco-terrorism. Until finally, Cybele was forced to confront her best friend and betray him too in order to save herself.

I hope you love reading Resurrecting Cybele as much as I loved writing it.