Jean Harkin's Blog - Posts Tagged "cedar-mill-library"
In Time for Christmas Gifting!
“Beyond Yesterday,” the 2019 Writers’ Mill Journal (volume 7) has just been released in time to place orders for Christmas giving! The collection of fiction, essays, and poetry by twelve authors is now available online for $5.99 and wherever books are sold. The Kindle version is available for $2.99.
The contents are inspired by the prompt, “looking backward and forward.” Several of the pieces have won awards in the Writers’ Mill monthly contests. Writers’ Mill is a group of writers who meet every month at the Cedar Mill Library near Portland, Oregon.
At our November meeting, leader Sheila Deeth, directed us through a demo of formatting and publishing our book. Using her laptop and the library's AV equipment and screen, she projected the entire process for the group's participation.
A few decisions were needed by the 13 members present: Book title, cover image, and cover design (including colors and print styles.) The KDP website worked well, with the exception of some glitches with cover dimensions. But voila-- the book is read-ready!
Both Kindle and print versions of “Beyond Yesterday” include illustrations and photographs that appear in color in the Kindle version, black and white in print edition.
I’m honored and delighted that the cover photograph (in color) for both editions is one of my photos, selected by the Writers’ Mill members. Some of you will recognize the scene, snapped at Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon. See the book cover in my book list above; it is third from the top.
Royalties from book and Kindle sales go to the Cedar Mill Library, the group’s helpful and gracious partner.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Read!
The contents are inspired by the prompt, “looking backward and forward.” Several of the pieces have won awards in the Writers’ Mill monthly contests. Writers’ Mill is a group of writers who meet every month at the Cedar Mill Library near Portland, Oregon.
At our November meeting, leader Sheila Deeth, directed us through a demo of formatting and publishing our book. Using her laptop and the library's AV equipment and screen, she projected the entire process for the group's participation.
A few decisions were needed by the 13 members present: Book title, cover image, and cover design (including colors and print styles.) The KDP website worked well, with the exception of some glitches with cover dimensions. But voila-- the book is read-ready!
Both Kindle and print versions of “Beyond Yesterday” include illustrations and photographs that appear in color in the Kindle version, black and white in print edition.
I’m honored and delighted that the cover photograph (in color) for both editions is one of my photos, selected by the Writers’ Mill members. Some of you will recognize the scene, snapped at Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon. See the book cover in my book list above; it is third from the top.
Royalties from book and Kindle sales go to the Cedar Mill Library, the group’s helpful and gracious partner.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Read!
Escape from Chaos via Book Travels
Like everyone else, I’ve tried to escape from our troubled, chaotic year. Books have been a great pathway out. Coincidentally, the last two books I’ve read (and reviewed here on Goodreads) involved travel on the road.
“Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein’s Brain” by Michael Paterniti (2001) is a memoir by a young man who followed up on a fascinating lead—to meet the pathologist who had absconded the Princeton, New Jersey, medical center with Albert Einstein’s brain after he died in 1955 and kept it for forty years. Young Paterniti became the road trip driver for elderly Dr. Harvey, who then wished, near the end of his life, to return the brain to Einstein’s daughter in California. The book details this cross-country adventure with humor and insight.
“The Long Haul: a Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road” by Finn Murphy (2018) is the memoir of a truck driver who contracted for long-distance moving companies for over thirty years. His narrative reveals the inside story of the truck-driving lifestyle, hard work, and relationships forged on the job. Murphy’s observations of the private lives of “shippers” (moving company customers) reveals much about ordinary and extraordinary human lives in America. His tales could not have been made up!
From this helpful navigator, I also learned some tips about packing, moving, saving stuff—and how to keep safe driving on the highway alongside trucks.
Besides reading, I went on a writing journey, contributing poetry and helping to edit The Writers’ Mill’s eighth annual anthology. The title is “Journeys Through Chaos: an Anthology to Bring us Together.” The challenges of this pandemic, political, and fire-devastated year inspired much of the journal’s contents. But there is also humor and some writings inspired by personal struggles and hardships.
The anthology will be uniquely published during the Writers’ Mill group’s November meeting. This publication will be our fourth “in meeting” upload, but our first to publish via Zoom. Leader Sheila Deeth will direct our efforts from final formatting, to cover design, to setting the purchase price, as the group participates through Zoom, hosted by our local librarian.
The Writers’ Mill 2020 collection will be available for purchase online soon after November 15 at a price likely under $9. Be sure to look for the colorful cover on Amazon and take a peek inside at an enticing blend of fiction, essays, and poetry. Profits from sales will go to the Cedar Mill Library in Washington County, Oregon.
“Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein’s Brain” by Michael Paterniti (2001) is a memoir by a young man who followed up on a fascinating lead—to meet the pathologist who had absconded the Princeton, New Jersey, medical center with Albert Einstein’s brain after he died in 1955 and kept it for forty years. Young Paterniti became the road trip driver for elderly Dr. Harvey, who then wished, near the end of his life, to return the brain to Einstein’s daughter in California. The book details this cross-country adventure with humor and insight.
“The Long Haul: a Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road” by Finn Murphy (2018) is the memoir of a truck driver who contracted for long-distance moving companies for over thirty years. His narrative reveals the inside story of the truck-driving lifestyle, hard work, and relationships forged on the job. Murphy’s observations of the private lives of “shippers” (moving company customers) reveals much about ordinary and extraordinary human lives in America. His tales could not have been made up!
From this helpful navigator, I also learned some tips about packing, moving, saving stuff—and how to keep safe driving on the highway alongside trucks.
Besides reading, I went on a writing journey, contributing poetry and helping to edit The Writers’ Mill’s eighth annual anthology. The title is “Journeys Through Chaos: an Anthology to Bring us Together.” The challenges of this pandemic, political, and fire-devastated year inspired much of the journal’s contents. But there is also humor and some writings inspired by personal struggles and hardships.
The anthology will be uniquely published during the Writers’ Mill group’s November meeting. This publication will be our fourth “in meeting” upload, but our first to publish via Zoom. Leader Sheila Deeth will direct our efforts from final formatting, to cover design, to setting the purchase price, as the group participates through Zoom, hosted by our local librarian.
The Writers’ Mill 2020 collection will be available for purchase online soon after November 15 at a price likely under $9. Be sure to look for the colorful cover on Amazon and take a peek inside at an enticing blend of fiction, essays, and poetry. Profits from sales will go to the Cedar Mill Library in Washington County, Oregon.
Birthday Surprise and New Releases
You could have pushed me down with a bookmark when my grandson Andrew Harkin announced he was narrating an audiobook of my 2016 short story anthology, “Night in Alcatraz and Other Uncanny Tales”! He finished the entire book, chapter by chapter, on Youtube.com in time for my birthday in late October.
To find it, go to youtube.com and search the book title or Andrew Harkin.
Another exciting new release is the ninth annual anthology by The Writers’ Mill. “The Floor Above” is freshly published in time for Christmas gifting at a special holiday rate on Amazon.com. The book’s brightly illustrated cover (by my granddaughter Gwenyth Harkin) would look great under any Christmas tree. The pages are filled with eclectic writings by the Writers’ Mill group of local Oregon and international authors, and fully illustrated with apt photos and drawings.
“The Floor Above” just might be the Writers’ Mill’s best volume yet! Royalties from book sales will go to the group’s sponsor, the Cedar Mill (Oregon) public library.
Happy holidays to all and a happy reading New Year!
To find it, go to youtube.com and search the book title or Andrew Harkin.
Another exciting new release is the ninth annual anthology by The Writers’ Mill. “The Floor Above” is freshly published in time for Christmas gifting at a special holiday rate on Amazon.com. The book’s brightly illustrated cover (by my granddaughter Gwenyth Harkin) would look great under any Christmas tree. The pages are filled with eclectic writings by the Writers’ Mill group of local Oregon and international authors, and fully illustrated with apt photos and drawings.
“The Floor Above” just might be the Writers’ Mill’s best volume yet! Royalties from book sales will go to the group’s sponsor, the Cedar Mill (Oregon) public library.
Happy holidays to all and a happy reading New Year!
My Year of Books, and Goodreads to You!
I’m starting off the new book year and looking back to share some of my 2021 reading highlights with you. Maybe you’re looking for a short book or a long book, a popular one or one you’ve not yet read, a book by an Oregon author—or something else. Here we go:
I read 36 books in 2021, equaling 9,197 pages! My average rating was 4.3 stars; I gave 5 stars perfect ratings to about 12, so not such a grumpy critic, was I!
The shortest book I read was “The Catalog of Small Contentments,” 120 pages by Portland poet Carolyn Martin. The longest was best-selling “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles. (576 pages.)
The most popular of books I read was “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Over one million readers on Goodreads shelved this book. The highest rated on my booklist was “The Point of Vanishing” by Portland-area author Maryka Biaggio.
All of my 36 books are reviewed on Goodreads; my first review of 2021 was “The Girl and the Bombardier” by Susan Tate Ankeny of Newberg, Oregon. I gave this book 5 stars. My last review of the year, also rating 5 stars, was “The Snow Child” by Alaska author Eowyn Ivey.
Other books I read in 2021 by Portland-area authors were “Claws for Concern” by Sheila Deeth, “One Long River of Song” and “Chicago” by the late Brian Doyle, “The Night Always Comes” by Willy Vlautin, “Fuzzy Logic” by Maren Anderson, “The Sound of Murder” by Cindy Brown, “Cat Conundrum” by Mollie Hunt, and “Where Lilacs Still Bloom” by Jane Kirkpatrick.
Happy New Year and Good Reading to All in 2022! If you’re browsing, take a look at the Writers’ Mill’s latest anthology, “The Floor Above,” available on Amazon. Profits go to the Portland-area Cedar Mill Library.
I read 36 books in 2021, equaling 9,197 pages! My average rating was 4.3 stars; I gave 5 stars perfect ratings to about 12, so not such a grumpy critic, was I!
The shortest book I read was “The Catalog of Small Contentments,” 120 pages by Portland poet Carolyn Martin. The longest was best-selling “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles. (576 pages.)
The most popular of books I read was “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Over one million readers on Goodreads shelved this book. The highest rated on my booklist was “The Point of Vanishing” by Portland-area author Maryka Biaggio.
All of my 36 books are reviewed on Goodreads; my first review of 2021 was “The Girl and the Bombardier” by Susan Tate Ankeny of Newberg, Oregon. I gave this book 5 stars. My last review of the year, also rating 5 stars, was “The Snow Child” by Alaska author Eowyn Ivey.
Other books I read in 2021 by Portland-area authors were “Claws for Concern” by Sheila Deeth, “One Long River of Song” and “Chicago” by the late Brian Doyle, “The Night Always Comes” by Willy Vlautin, “Fuzzy Logic” by Maren Anderson, “The Sound of Murder” by Cindy Brown, “Cat Conundrum” by Mollie Hunt, and “Where Lilacs Still Bloom” by Jane Kirkpatrick.
Happy New Year and Good Reading to All in 2022! If you’re browsing, take a look at the Writers’ Mill’s latest anthology, “The Floor Above,” available on Amazon. Profits go to the Portland-area Cedar Mill Library.
Crazy Daze of Publishing
Long story short—my debut novel “Promise Full of Thorns” has been un-published, that is, it is no longer available from publisher, Sunbury Press. What an apt title—the thorns! The novel I wrote, edited, and fretted over for seventeen years had a short life span—five months, from January to June 2023.
It is now a “limited edition” as well as a “first edition.” A few copies are available through Amazon and direct (signed) from me. It is available at the local Cedar Mill library in Beaverton, Oregon.
Now, with my copyright restored to me, I hope and plan to publish a new edition of “Promise Full of Thorns” with a new cover in 2024.
My sad publishing story isn’t the worst, however. Dana Shavin writes in the August 2023 issue of “The Writer” magazine that an author was dropped by her agent and publisher after publishing her fifth book. Shavin adds, “there are changes in wind speed and direction that we can’t see coming in the publishing world.”
One of the factors causing upsets in publishing is the rising cost of printing. The price hike of my novel was the spark that lighted my disagreement with the publisher who subsequently dropped my book.
Writers who are new to the realities of publishing are often surprised and upset (as I was) with the lengths of time for responses from agents and publishers, and the months-long waits between signing a contract and the start of editing and other processes leading to the book’s release. For me, it was about fifteen months between signing the contract and being contacted by my editor.
It was a joy to have my novel released. Now, my balloon is only temporarily burst. Re-publishing awaits! My advice to other writers facing rejections; long waits; or difficult publishers, agents, or editors is this: Don’t become jaded, don’t give up! Shavin’s article in the August “The Writer” is worth the encouraging read.
It is now a “limited edition” as well as a “first edition.” A few copies are available through Amazon and direct (signed) from me. It is available at the local Cedar Mill library in Beaverton, Oregon.
Now, with my copyright restored to me, I hope and plan to publish a new edition of “Promise Full of Thorns” with a new cover in 2024.
My sad publishing story isn’t the worst, however. Dana Shavin writes in the August 2023 issue of “The Writer” magazine that an author was dropped by her agent and publisher after publishing her fifth book. Shavin adds, “there are changes in wind speed and direction that we can’t see coming in the publishing world.”
One of the factors causing upsets in publishing is the rising cost of printing. The price hike of my novel was the spark that lighted my disagreement with the publisher who subsequently dropped my book.
Writers who are new to the realities of publishing are often surprised and upset (as I was) with the lengths of time for responses from agents and publishers, and the months-long waits between signing a contract and the start of editing and other processes leading to the book’s release. For me, it was about fifteen months between signing the contract and being contacted by my editor.
It was a joy to have my novel released. Now, my balloon is only temporarily burst. Re-publishing awaits! My advice to other writers facing rejections; long waits; or difficult publishers, agents, or editors is this: Don’t become jaded, don’t give up! Shavin’s article in the August “The Writer” is worth the encouraging read.
