Day: February 1, 2014

Sneak Peek: Song of Australia

Song of Australia--cover resized for webToday we have a sneak peek from Song of Australia, the historical fiction novel by Stephen Crabbe.

Song of Australia takes the reader to the home-front of the First World War to walk with remarkable characters, each struggling for acceptance. Brilliant child-musician Elsie Fischer faces hostility, not only from the community due to her German ancestry, but also from her mother. Enigmatic little Neddy, generally viewed as the village idiot, possesses exceptional musical ability that only Elsie recognises. Adolescent Edwin Argent has a pacifist inclination: he must confront his father, the church, a local bully, the government, and the pro-war convictions of the girl he loves. These and other characters link three enthralling stories with timeless themes.

Song of Australia is available at Amazon.com and Amazon UK.

Here is an except from Song of Australia…

Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Song of Australia”

Working with Your Editor’s Edits in MS Word

Jacqueline HopkinsGuest Post
by Jacqueline Hopkins

You’re an author and you typed your manuscript in Microsoft Word. You’ve sent your work out to an editor. You get it back and it has different color text mixed in with your black words and colored text boxes in the far right margin. It’s a mess you can’t make heads nor tails of. You ask yourself, “What on earth has the editor done to my masterpiece?”

If your editor uses the latest version of the software, they will have used the ‘New Comments’ features and ‘Track Changes’ under the REVIEW tab to edit your work. If you are into self-editing your work before you send it off to an editor, you can turn track changes on and use it yourself. Just go to the menu bar, click on REVIEW, then click ‘track changes’ to turn it on, and clicking it again turns it off. When it is on, if you type a change it will appear in a different color. It also strikes through words you want to delete using the delete key.

Now, here is how to accept the editor’s changes, reject them, and get rid of all those comments boxes. Continue reading “Working with Your Editor’s Edits in MS Word”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Snowman

downeast snow Jan 1988State Trooper Tom Dewitt pulled up on what he thought was a vehicle that had gotten stuck in the snow and abandoned by its occupants. The vehicle was no longer running and he couldn’t see anyone inside.

He didn’t want to stop, fearful that his own car might become stuck as well. He drove slowly by, and craned his neck to look into the other car.

The two occupants were slumped toward each other, and from the blood splattered on the headrests, Tom knew the serial killer they called the Snowman had returned. What Tom did not know was that the Snowman was still there…

 

Continue reading “Flash Fiction Challenge: Snowman”