Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book?
My
latest book is the second in a series of TALES2INSPIRE™ books. It’s title is Tales2Inspire
~ The Topaz Collection. It’s an anthology of winning stories of Awakenings
& Aha Moments. Not only are these stories inspiring, but the power of
each of them is enhanced by the inclusion of original, author owned
photographs. My third book in this collection, Tales2Inspire ~ The Sapphire
Collection will include Inspiring Stories that Echo In the Mind.
This whole project is keeping me very busy, but in a fun, exciting way.
Is there anything specific that
inspired you to write The Topaz Collection?
Sure.
I had published two full length books on physical beauty and I really wanted a
change of pace. I started blogging about what I call “Inner Beauty” stories,
stories that have the power to enrich the spirit and warm the heart. I loved
writing them and readers seemed to enjoy reading them. So the rest, as they
say, is history. My third Tales2Inspire book is almost ready for
publication and a fourth one is in the works.
You told me something else very interesting about the reason you created Tales2Inspire. Would you tell our readers about that?
Well,
I had been giving a lot of thought to the problems many talented writers are
having today in getting recognized for their talents. That elusive word ‘discovery’
haunts us all. I began to think about what I could do to help other authors and
at the same time help myself. And that’s when I began to create Tales2Inspire™,
my Authors Helping Authors project/contest.
This book is a bit different from those written by other authors I have interviewed. Can you explain what makes it unique?
Sure.
Although I write a few stories in each collection myself, most of them are written
by the winners and finalists in this contest. An interesting part of
Tales2Inspire is that it really is designed to help authors improve their
writing.
Please explain how this helps other authors become better writers.
Each
author whose story has been accepted into the competition, judges three other
approved stories anonymously using a click, click, click Jotform method. There
are only three questions for them to score. For example, “How strongly did this
story inspire you?” on a scale of 1 to 5
Then at the end of the form, I ask the question: “Unless you gave this
tale a perfect score, give this author at least one idea of something they
might consider doing to improve it.”
So, what happens next?
I
total the scores and find the average. All those writers whose scores fall in
the 90th percentile or above become winners, 80th - 90th percentile, the
finalists, etc. I compile the critiques for each author and send them back to
them along with their award status. I encourage them to use the information to
edit their work if they choose to do so. I also tell them if I would publish
their story if they made some changes. Some stories require very little
editing. Some need more, mostly in the area of organization and sticking to one
single theme.
Can the authors really be unbiased when judging their competition?
I’m
so glad you asked that question, Marie. That’s the beauty of this project. I
make it very clear that awards are based on score averages, so there is no
single Winner or Finalist. If twenty stories achieved score averages in the
90th percentile range, we would have twenty winners. But that has never
happened. Actually I find that the judges are very fair, and this year in
particular, the critiques were excellent, so on target. I should also mention
that if one judge’s scores are out of line with the other two judges, I have a
fourth author judge that story and take the average of four scores instead of
three.
What about the "Authors Helping Authors" part? What are you doing to help your winning authors?
Well,
for one thing, their stories get published, with their photo, name and mini
autobiography posted at the end of their story. That’s a nice credential to
have. And my graphic designer puts each of their head shot photos on the
back cover of the book, with their name and title of their story They also get
listed on Amazon.com
as one of the authors. That’s another nice credential. I promote them on my
website, Facebook page, my blog and YouTube channel, so they are really getting
some great PR.
It sounds like you work really hard on this project. Dare I ask how much it costs to enter a story into Tales2Inspire?
My
husband thinks I’m a bit crazy, Marie, because I don’t have an entrance fee. It’s
free. It’s just become my passion and I’m enjoying every minute of it. Well
almost every minute!
Great! So, when does the next contest begin and and what themes are you looking for this time?
Actually
this is the first time I am not listing an entry and deadline date. That’s
because I want to get stories for the fourth book, Tales2Inspire ~ The Ruby
Collection - Gifts of Compassion as soon as possible.
Readers, here is the blurb for Tales2Inspire: The Topaz Collection.
Some
experiences provide us with fleeting memories. Others give us ‘Awakenings’,
those Aha Moments that suddenly bring us clarity of vision, fresh new
perspectives, revelations on how to live more meaningful lives. Watch your
personal awakenings unfold as you read this collation of powerful stories.
Here is an excerpt from "As I Am", the most poignant story of a quadriplegic six year old boy and his therapist.
AS I AM
by
Dr. Karen Hutchins
Pirnot
It
was Christmas Eve, 1987 and I was not where I wanted to be. I walked into
the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of the local hospital and inhaled
deeply at the misery before me. Children hung on perilously to a life
that appeared to rest tenuously on a cliff to nowhere.
I
was escorted to Garret’s room. I entered and immediately held back a
gasp, bit my lower lip and looked at the floor. I had never before seen
such human devastation.
The
tiny child in the bed asked me, “Why are you looking at the floor.”
He
was a charming child with tubes attached to him and a ventilator that made a
noise that seemed to challenge death itself. I said to the child, “Garret,
I’m Dr. Pirnot. Dr. Mark wanted me to meet you. I’m not sure what
to do but I want to help make things better.”
He
looked at me in such a direct manner that I instantly knew this child had aged
a lifetime in the eight months since the accident which left him quadriplegic
and ventilator-dependent for life. He said simply, “I have a really bad
tummy ache.”
My
heart fluttered and my eyes danced. Unknowingly, Garret had provided a
clue to the healing of his soul. He had told me his tummy hurt and I knew
that he could feel nothing below his neck. The hurt was in his brain and
I knew just enough about that to begin to think I might play a part in his
healing.
Being
a Clinical Psychologist, I was also trained in hypnosis. I immediately
asked Garret to close his eyes and go to a place of comfort. He chose the
beach. I described all the sounds of the beach as well as the olfactory
sensations. Garret began to feel the warmth of the sun on his face and he
asked to go into the warm Gulf waters of Florida. He asked to hold his
mother’s hand as he walked into the waters. He stayed until he was
satiated with warmth and love.
When
the relaxation imagery was ended, the stomach ache was gone and Garret was
amazed. He asked how I did that and I told him I did nothing. I
told him I only spoke words and that his mind did the healing. For the
first time since his devastating injuries, he had a sense that his life was not
totally out of his control.
Garret
told me he wished he could hug me and I immediately thought about therapeutic
boundaries. I leaned down and placed my head on his left shoulder. I
told Garret he could hug me by turning his head and making contact with my
head. He did just that and, at that moment in time, we began our
seven year adventure together.
Wow! How inspiring!
Now we have some general questions for Lois.
When reading, do you prefer traditional printed books or ebooks? And why?
I find both
e-books and printed books have their advantages and disadvantages. I love
taking an e-book to the beach, on an airplane, even in the car if I’m not the
driver! I don’t have to worry about pages getting wet or all messed up and it
is so light weight for travel. I also enjoy the feature of being able to
enlarge the print to my preferred size. Another great advantage is to be able
to either purchase an e-book from anywhere at any time and watch it zip right
onto your wireless device. I have also borrowed e-books from the library, right
from the comfort of my home. I still find that amazing! But here is the
downside to e-readers. Although you can bookmark pages that you want to refer
back to, it’s just not the same as when you hold a physical book in your hands
and place real bookmarks between pages you want to return to. Another
disadvantage, the electronic books don’t have page numbers. When I join in a
discussion with my book group, I can’t say, “Take a look at paragraphs 3 and 4
on page seventy-nine."
I agree. I have to admit that I am partial to physical books.
So, what are you reading now?
I just finished
reading Dr. Bernie Sieigel’s newest book, The Art of Healing. The book was
great, but I felt I was at a real disadvantage in reading it on my Kindle.
An important part of this book is learning how to interpret drawings. But
the drawings are placed at the beginning of the book and discussion about them,
later on. If I had been reading from a physical book, I would have been able to
flip back and forth as he referred to those pages, but not so with the
e-reader.
Thank you for visiting us today, Lois, and bringing information about your contest, your book and your thoughts on the book industry these days.
Author Bio
After completing my first two books
on aesthetics (Sex, Lies and Cosmetic Surgery & Tick Tock, Stop
the Clock ~ Getting Pretty on Your Lunch Hour), I began writing what I call
my "Inner Beauty" stories - inspiring stories to touch the heart and
soul. Tales2Inspire ~ The Emerald Collection (Beyond Coincidence
stories) is the first in a four book series. Tales2Inspire ~ The Topaz
Collection (Stories of Awakenings & Aha Moments) is also published and
the Sapphire and Ruby Collections are in the works.
My innate curiosity about
potentially fascinating human beings was the spark that propelled me to
initiate my Tales2Inspire™ "Authors Helping Authors" project/contest.
I wanted to give writers from across the globe that opportunity to share their
most inspiring stories. One of my goals is to help these talented authors build
solid platforms and get some recognition for their skills. I also wanted to
create an alternate path for those of us seeking ways to strengthen our
opportunities for discovery.
You can learn all the details at www.tales2inspire.com
and even read many of the stories on my blog at www.tales2inspire/inspiring stories.
Social Media:
Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/tales2inspire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyFabBeautyBlog
Wordpress beauty blog: http://fabulousbeautyblog.wordpress.com
Inspiring stories blog: http://tales2inspire.com/inspiringstories/
Amazon Author Central page: http://www.amazon.com/Lois-W.-Stern/e/B005HOO640/
Books:
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