Archives for 2016

The Many ways to say love for the Holidays

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Red cardinals paired on snow-laden branches. Winter blows making dancing snow swirls. Red noses are filled with scents of cinnamon and mulled wine, filling cold air with warmed recollections of love. We hear favorite Yuletide carols and long for the romance of fireside light. And beyond windowpanes, winds howl while […]

When Creating Prose Empties the Soul of its Pain

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer A week passed and the booze and seclusion did little to stop the pain that stole my sleep and kept the tears flowing. The sudden loss of my friend, lover, and partner seemed more than I could handle. I thought all was good and right with my world. A great […]

It is Back to School

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Cooler days and carnal autumnal colors announce the awaited freedom for author moms to return to the business of composition. New school clothes and the scent of just bought supplies bring to mind comforting images from the art of Charles M. Schulz and Norman Rockwell. Lonely playgrounds come alive with […]

The Future of Video Promotional Content Holds Real Promise

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer While debating on the how to or which promotional avenues work best in transporting your masterpiece into the realms of a digital rock star, consider this. Creating episodic videos to promote your book(s) can propel your bona fides as a high-ranking author and a New York Times bestseller. Like forecasting […]

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Sometimes in the ordinariness of our lives, routines become daily rituals. The rituals never prepare us for when a beloved is ripped forever from our arms. Seared with immeasurable pain our souls have no words to express the agony. On June 12, 2016, one man carved from our lives 49 […]

T.G. According to the article, Nielsen Summit Shows the Data Behind the Children’s Book Boom, the children’s and young adult genres were the largest areas of industry growth in 2014. Let’s face it, Hollywood loves children’s books. Throughout the years, our local multiplex theater had shown film adaptations of many popular children’s books – Charlie […]

Is a writers’ raison d’etre inherent or created?

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer “I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge.” – Poet Gwendolyn Brooks She wrote 75 poetries and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her poem Annie Allen. Gwendolyn Brooks attended […]

Free and Inexpensive Book Marketing really can Shift Your Sales Paradigms.

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer You’ve spent an enormous amount of time and thought into getting your book published. One of the biggest obstacles to success is getting your work front and center to readers and that requires marketing. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle in achieving author stardom. But shifting the paradigms in achieving […]

The Promise of Liberation fails the most vulnerable

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer The river of humanity continues its flow to lands offering hope for life and sanctuary. The scenes are hard to know and even more difficult to comprehend. They move by the millions. Each person has a story and each tale its variations on a common theme that threads and connects […]

Holiday Retrospect with Lillian

By Barbara Ann Cerda | Contributing Writer Blended family tables hold the greatest wealth of prose rich in storylines and tales that mirror the diverse human condition. The holidays have passed leaving us with new memories of the common familial conversations that center on a mixture of personal politics and daily living while visiting our dinner table. […]