So, the middle-grade novel, "Dragon's Danger" is 99% ready to go. I started the process to put the story on Smashwords.com for distribution/sales. I talked about some of this last post, so this is more or less an addendum.

There are a number of possibilities for self-publishing a novel, and I've liked what I've seen about Smashwords. The idea is, you submit your book to them (as a Word doc file), then they format/convert it into a number of formats, including PDF, HTML, and epub for Kindle and other readers. Once formatted, Smashwords becomes your distributor, placing the book at Kobo, B&N, Oyster, Scribd, and other ebook sellers.

Except, as I've discovered, Amazon.

Smashwords says Amazon doesn't have a way for them to "bulk upload" to the book giant, so they have to set things up manually. They don't do that unless your book's sold $2K already through other channels.

That's not all that big a thing for me, though. I took the doc file for Smashwords, changed it to a "Kindle Edition", and am ready to publish it separately on Amazon. Since I'm using Smashwords at the same time, I can't do "Kindle Select", but I may try that with FBI-gal, we'll see.

What this does mean is that I don't have to wait to analyse this for "Hidden Talents", so that project's publication gets accelerated. Looking now at a June 1st date for it.

Elysian Fields Press LLC, of Metairie, Louisiana, is seeking submissions of prose, poetry, and artwork for its forthcoming anthology, Katrina Plus Ten, which has an anticipated publication date of August 29, 2015.

Katrina Plus Ten will feature entertaining and thought-provoking stories, essays, verse, and illustrations that recall the experiences of New Orleanians in the days leading up to the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, and the six months after that landfall.

Publisher Edward Branley welcomes poems of one to five pages in length. In short fiction, he will review short stories under 5K words. For nonfiction, essays, profiles of Katrina survivors, and other stories, 2500 words or less.

Payment will be based on pages published. Katrina Plus Ten is expected to be 100 pages in length. Writers/artists will be paid $20 per published page, and 1% of the writers' share of profits per published page.  

Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2015.  

Send submissions to kplusten@ebranley.com  

Questions? Contact the publisher at edward@ebranley.com  

Yuletide Passing

“Christmas,” as most people view it
Is over after Boxing Day.
The run-up to the New Year
Has a different feel.
The out of town
Family have returned, but the kids are
Still home.

Some folks are already working on
Taking down the decorations,
Returning the household to
Some semblence of normal.
But, it's not normal, nut quite yet.
The Old Year is still with us,
Still almost a week before,
Everyone deludes themselves into
Thinking the clock clicking to
January 1^st will change things.

It's a good feeling, though, as we
Extend our enjoyment of family and
Close friends to the random-chance
Meetings of others we know,
At the Mall,
At the coffee shop,
And the other places we haunt.

The disruption of regular routines
Until after the start of the New Year
Offers opportunities for writers,
Artists, and lovers.
Writers can tune out their day-to-day
Duties, turning inward to finish that
Chapter that's languished since, oh,
About the Fifteenth of December.
Artists return to the easel, the pottery
Wheel, or their sketchpads.

Lovers make best use of the
Time-between-years.
Knowing that the spouses are
Entertaining the kids,
Or otherwise wrapped in their own
Reverie-of-limbo,
They plan trysts that could never
Happen within the confines of
Work schedules, kid drop-off/pick-up,
And other complications.
They steal a few moments,
Make lasting memories,
And hopefully,
They aren't discovered,
So they can return to normalcy
By Twelfth Night.

© 2014, Edward J. Branley. All rights reserved.

"Seattle"

We all have a “Seattle,”
That person, who,
When they send a card,
Or we see an email from,
THAT domain,
Or THAT area code,
We transform.

We forget the disappointment,
We forget the bad,
We forget the pain.
None of it matters,
When we see “Seattle”
Pop up in our
Present-day lives.

The transformation begins
With a gasp,
Either physical, mental,
Or psychic.
A small smile forms.
A massive WALL OF FIRE
Starts to roll in from the horizon
As optimism,
And a conscious block of
Every Bad Thing Ever
Stops the negativity cold.

Common sense usually wins out
When pondering “Seattle,”
Not because the bad memories win,
But because we've moved on,
And really don't want double-back.

Yes, everyone has a “Seattle.”
Sometimes,
It's in Portland.