Friday 25 July 2014

The Top 10 "Artist Unleashed" Posts of 2014 so far ...

So, it's that time of year again.

This will be my last post until Monday September 1st. Why so long, you ask?

Well ... next week I'm heading off to coordinate the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop.

When I get back I will be taking a much-needed 10-day vacation to a hotel by the sea so I can become a vegetable (not baked, must keep my white skin!)

Then I will be spending the rest of August getting in some quality writing time before I have to start the day job again.

But, don't disappear just yet. If you're in search of some interesting reading content, how about you take a gander through some of this year's The Artist Unleashed posts in which a variety of writers and artists share a wealth of information related to their creative field?

Need a starting point? Here are the Top 10 most viewed Artist Unleashed posts of 2014 so far:

1. THE 5 BIGGEST RISKS I’VE TAKEN AS AN AUTHOR by Rachel Thompson

2. A MAD MAN TRIED TO KILL ME, by Jeremiah Walton

3. THE 7 MYTHS OF VIRTUAL BOOK TOURS, by Pandora Poikilos




7. WHY WORRY ABOUT DIALECT? by Jim Murdoch

8. WHY WRITERS NEED A THEME SONG, by Julia Tagliere

9. WRITING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (HOW DORIS LESSING HELPED ME WRITE IN ENGLISH) by Helena Halme

10. THE SECRET TO MATURING AS A WRITER by Julie Musil


Happy reading and have a wonderful summer!


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Wednesday 23 July 2014

The Artist Unleashed: COMMERCE & CREATIVITY—HOW TO KEEP THE BALANCE by Pauline B Jones

When I finally ventured out and made first contact with my writing peers, I received a lot of good solid, advice about the craft and business of writing. The craft parts were easier to swallow, particularly back in the bad old days when writers had so few choices. Why spend too much time dwelling on a business model that made no sense? Like the newbies that came before me, I had a hard time believing them, so I focused on the stuff I wanted to believe.

I dreamed about that day when I’d get The Call (instead, it was The Email). I imagined how it would feel to cross the threshold from ...

Sorry for the interruption, but The Artist Unleashed posts have moved to a new domain. Please click HERE to read the rest of this post and for the opportunity to comment.


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Monday 21 July 2014

Want 1000+ views on a single post? Book yourself in as a guest on The Artist Unleashed.

Every Wednesday of every week is The Artist Unleashed. If you'd like to write a guest post to help promote your blog, website, service, or books, or anything else you want to draw attention to, please contact me via jessica.carmen.bell@gmail.com to book yourself in.

I have slots available from Wednesday, October 1, 2014.

All posts for this feature must be inspiring and/or motivating, and encourage discussion. I will not just post your book blurb, cover, and purchase links. One, because you are more likely to attract attention to your work if you have something interesting to say. And two, because I would like my blog to offer useful and interesting information for my readers, not blatant advertisements.

I will tweet and Facebook your posts several times during the week to get it as much exposure as possible. Highest views on a single post = 1000+. If you want to reach that 1000 views mark it means you need to provide interesting content and make an effort in sharing the post on various platforms as much as I do. This is a collaborative effort.

When you send me your post, please include:
  • A title (you'd be surprised how many people forget!)
  • A call to action at the end (A question related to your post to ask readers, which will make it easier for them to leave a comment.)
  • A head shot (JPEG please, do NOT embed it into your Word Doc, I need it as a separate attachment)
  • A 3rd person bio 50-100 words including all your web links
  • Word count: 500-1000 words

It is your responsibility to send me your post on time. If I do not receive it two days before you are scheduled to post (i.e. Monday) at the latest, I will arrange for someone else to take your place, and your post will then be pushed back to the first available date. I will send you one reminder the weekend before, but that is it.

Also, please only book yourself in if you are serious about sending in a post. I realize that things can happen to cause delays, and I'm very understanding when life interferes with your good intentions, but the amount of people who cancel (multiple times, sometimes) at the last minute is rather astonishing, and I'm left to scramble for replacements. Please do your best to avoid this. A bit of respect is all I ask.

To view all past Artist Unleashed posts, CLICK HERE.

The earlier you secure a date the better. Whenever I publish announcements the slots disappear like hot cakes.

Please contact me via jessica.carmen.bell@gmail.com to book.

Have a great week!

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Thursday 17 July 2014

Made to Feel Pretty ... Then Ugly For the Sake of a Sale

Source
I was shopping in the main square of Athens the other day, and something rather disturbing happened to me. It really made me wonder about the absolutely morally demeaning sales tactics of the people I encountered. And I thought it would make an interesting blog post, so here I am.

Let me start from the beginning.

I was in town running some errands. I had a day off work, so I thought I’d wander around and do some window shopping. I really didn’t feel like going home, as I spend the majority of my life at home (I’m a freelancer).

I walked past a marketing stall, and the lovely woman behind it asked me if I’d like to be in a TV commercial advertising some beauty products. EEK! No thanks, I thought, but I’m flattered nonetheless. The lovely woman, with a genuinely sweet smile on her face, asked me why:

“Is it because you’re short on time?”
“No, I just don’t speak Greek that well so I don’t think it would work.”
“You speak Greek fabulously, don’t be silly,” she said.

I laughed and said thank you, and we got into a conversation about where I was from, yada yada yada. You may think I was being being sucked into this, but I knew exactly what was going on. But I had time on my hands, and I didn’t want to go home, so I thought I would play this out and see what happened. Who knows? I might get a story out of it! I thought. (I did, as you can see.)

The conversation on the side of the road ended in her telling me how lovely and white my skin was, and that I must really take care of my skin. “Well,” I said, “I don’t do much at all. I just keep chemical products off my face.” Again, I said thank you for the compliment.

This led to the sales woman telling me about the beauty treatments the salon she works for offers. She said she would give me a voucher for 300 Euros off any treatment I liked, but asked if I would be willing to follow her a few meters down the road, to the building the salon is in, in order to register all my information and speak with a consultant about which treatment to get.

My stomach started to gurgle as I smelled something fishy. I asked, “Okay, I get 300 Euro off, but how much is the treatment to begin with?”

She told me that all prices differed from treatment to treatment and the best way to see what was available and what they cost was to come to the salon.

Okay, I thought. I have a bit of time on my hands, let’s see where this leads. I wouldn’t mind being pampered a bit.

We got to the salon and entered a very very sterile and florescent green waiting room. It was almost like a hospital and I realised that this place was more than just a salon, but somewhere where you could get things like electrolysis done. I internally groaned. I despise this kind of shit. I’m happy with my body the way it is. But ho-hum. I was there. And it was a nice cool place to get some relief from the heat for a few minutes.

The consultant took down my details, and told me what treatments I could get the discount on. I opted to go for a facial. But then she described that it wasn’t a typical facial, but a very unique procedure in which my pores would be chemically treated to allow moisturizer to soak into my skin properly. Or something to that effect. I’m not sure I understood all the technical words in Greek.

And this is where it got ugly.

She began to scrutinize my face, with a rather revolted look on her face. She told me that I had a lot of open pores, unattractive red blotches, and pimples, and asked me if I’d been to see a doctor about it. That a woman my age shouldn’t have skin problems this severe. (SKIN PROBLEMS? SEVERE? What a crock of shit. We get a period every month and the hormones from the period cause pimples. And it was stinking hot outside, of course I was red!)

A doctor? I squealed inside my head. Did she think I was a moron? The only reason she could see any blemishes on my face was because she had a horrid florescent light shining directly into it. None of that stuff is even visible in the daylight.

She then said that their treatment would fix all this stuff up, and it would only cost me ... wait for it ... TWO THOUSAND EUROS after the discount. Of course, the woman’s face was caked in so much makeup I couldn’t even tell if she had a nose.

I scoffed, stood up, and said, “Sorry, I’m not interested, but thanks for your time.” (Yeah, I can’t help but be polite.) Didn’t last long though, because the consultant jumped out of her seat and stood in front of the door, and with a very fake smile said ...

“But don’t you want your husband to love you?”

I imagine it was the horrified look on my face than inspired her to move out of my way. I couldn’t get out of that place fast enough.

When I finally got out of the building, of course, I went into a clothes shop and looked at my face in a mirror. I held a T-shirt up to my torso so I didn’t look like an idiot. Sure, my face had a few blemishes, but who cares? Why the fuck are we so conditioned to think our appearance matters so much? Now, I felt guilty for even considering the woman was right about my face. And I bought the lovely T-shirt I was holding.

At least someone made a sale out of me that day.

Has anyone ever challenged your self-esteem like this? Tell me your story.


Easy Tweet:
A beauty consultant asked: Don't u want yr husband 2 love you? Read the story here: http://goo.gl/kuxlRg #selfesteem #beauty #writers

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Wednesday 16 July 2014

The Artist Unleashed: THE WRITER’S AGONY & ECSTASY by Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn

Okay, perhaps an overly-dramatic title. A writer’s life is easy: sit down at the computer and write, make stuff up, invent a character here, a plot there. It’s not like being a deep sea fisherman, a miner, a brain surgeon. In comparison, writing is a doddle.

Maybe.

But as Ernest Hemingway said: There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

And that’s what led me to the title of this post. It’s the act of creation – of making ...

Sorry for the interruption, but The Artist Unleashed posts have moved to a new domain. Please click HERE to read the rest of this post and for the opportunity to comment.

Monday 14 July 2014

I'm on @WritersDigest talking about tackling character consistency today. Drop on by to win Polish Your Fiction!

Hope you all had a fab weekend!

Did you watch the World Cup Final last night? Despite being half German, and living in Greece, I was rooting for Argentina. But every single team I root for ends up losing. Perhaps their loss is all my fault. :-)

On a more positive note, I'm on Writer's Digest today, talking about tackling character consistency. I'm also giving away a copy of Polish Your Fiction!


Comment on this post for the chance to win.

EASY TWEET:

Have a great week!

PS: Take a gander at my announcements below, too. There are goodies to be gotten. 

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Thursday 10 July 2014

Do You Agree, Or Disagree? (#9) TOPIC: Is the Fight for Gender Equality in Literature Causing More Segregation?

This campaign #ReadWomen2014, which aims to bring gender equality to the literary world is a really lovely idea. And I'm all for supporting it. But I can't help thinking that ... singling women out is just going to cause more segregation. If we really want to support gender equality, shouldn't we be aiming to read books from an equal amount of men as women?

What do you think? Do you think the fight for gender equality in literature is addressed in the right way?


EASY TWEET:
Is the Fight 4 #GenderEquality in Literature Causing More Segregation? #ReadWomen2014 #Authors #amreading #GenderBias http://goo.gl/LyfU1D


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Wednesday 9 July 2014

The Artist Unleashed: OUTLASTING YOUR DEMONS: HOW TO COPE WITH ANXIETY, by Monica Bhide

Sometimes the obstacles seem insurmountable, the heartache is paralyzing, the fear is searing, the anxiety makes my head spin. It is only when I find the quiet in the fear that I find my strength and my purpose. And I write. And write and write. I am finally home.

I posted this status update on FB a few weeks ago. The private responses surprised me:

“How, how do you find the quiet place?”
“I have many dark places in my head and I fear them.”
“I have severe bouts of anxiety about my writing. How do you deal with yours?”

How I wish I had the answers to ...

Sorry for the interruption, but The Artist Unleashed posts have moved to a new domain. Please click HERE to read the rest of this post and for the opportunity to comment.

Monday 7 July 2014

Religious Institutions & Child Sexual Abuse. Two Phrases That Should Not Be Seen in the Same Sentence.

I'm not very knowledgeable about religion. I was baptized a Lutheran, but never ever went to church. In fact, I know so little about my religion (or any religion) that I think it's safe to say I am an "ignorant agnostic."

That said, I do not dislike people who have faith in their religion. My feelings about people are in no way determined by what they believe in. I don't care if you're Muslim or Christian, as long as I like you for who you are, and you are an honest person (I'd even like you if you were half alien, half ape), I am happy to call you my friend.

But you know what really makes me mad? Hypocrites.

When I hear stories about child sexual abuse crimes being committed by members of the church, I freak out. It is DISGUSTING. Child abuse is disguating anyway, but when people who are supposed to be protectors commit such crimes, I want to curl up and cry. How can they do this? I just don't understand.

I find it rather amazing that on the day I release my latest poetry book, SHE, which explores child sexual abuse in church, an article is published entitled, Religious institutions a playground for abuse.

It states, "In the U.S., 16,787 people have said that they were abused as children by priests between 1950 and 2012, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as reported by PBS. However, child abuse within the church isn’t exclusive to the Catholic denomination." Read more here.

I have decided to donate 100% of the profits made on SHEuntil the end of 2014, to ISPCAN. SHE is only $0.99 cents on Kindle. The cost of a few sips of coffee.

If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle Reader App onto you computer or your Android phone, tablet, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows 8 PC or tablet, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone.

I know this probably won't help much. But every little bit counts. And I think this is the least I can do for a worthy cause.

I hope you consider purchasing and spreading the word.
_______________

EASY TWEET:
SHE #newrelease—an exploration of religious institutions & #ChildAbuse—100% profits go 2 @ISPCAN—Only $0.99 http://goo.gl/dGSTsT #poetry


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Wednesday 2 July 2014

The Artist Unleashed: USING FREE SAMPLES TO INCREASE SALES: FICTION AND NON-FICTION by Susan Kaye Quinn

When you start talking about giving away your work for free, people tend to freak out.

Doesn't it devalue your work?
No.

Why would they buy something if they can get it for free?
Because the purchase has value.

But my work is worth paying for!
Of course. Using free samples will help you sell more.

No one will ever buy books again!
Sales of ebooks are up 38% over the last 2 years (AAP 2014).

All the questions above focus on a sort-of adversarial relationship with your reader. How can I get them to value my work? How can I force them to buy it? Instead, you need to look at ...

Sorry for the interruption, but The Artist Unleashed posts have moved to a new domain. Please click HERE to read the rest of this post and for the opportunity to comment.