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Poets Unite! Poetry Jam

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A long time ago I heard a preacher say that if we don’t share our talents and gifts with the world, we become thieves. We all have great talents. How many people though, never step out and bless the world with their gifts. Our talents are not just for us. They are to help make this life better and more amazing!

Last night I began a new thing; I hosted a poetry jam at my home away from home, The Coffee House. I was a bit anxious about it. I worried because I was afraid no one would come. Boy did I waste my time worrying!! We had 25+ people show  up to our first meeting last night!! Their  were young poets and poets from all walks of life. This very talented woman shared a piece about her trip to New Orleans and it was so vivid, her words took be back to when I went to that beautiful place in my teens. This other poet a young man, recited a poem he wrote from memory. I  admire poets who can  get up to the mic and do that without any prior preparation.

There were several writers from my writing group, WRITING ROYALTY in attendance and they shared as well.

And lastly, there was a young woman by the name of Leslie Stein who shared her 365 Soul Notes with us and she inspired me!! I plan to have her as a featured artist soon! This is her picture 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/SoulNotesWithLeslieStein

I broke past the fear and I did something I always wanted to do! The Henderson Poets will meet every Tuesday night at 7pm in The Coffee House located on 117. S. Water Street, Henderson, NV. If you are local, come by and join us!  Next Tuesday, Derik Jordan, a local guitar player will be our featured artist. This young man played Walk The Line and he sounded just like Johnny Cash!! Please like our The Henderson Poets Group Page on Facebook!https://www.facebook.com/TheHendersonPoets

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

 

 

Word Picture #12

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Broken Window

What does it mean

When I look in your face

And your soul is blank

When I look in your face

And your demons stand as in rank

What does it mean

When I reach out for a hug

You look down at your shoes

And all you do is shrug

I’ll tell you what it means to me:

Stop looking through that old broken window; it’s busted from years of rocks pelting it. First stone you threw, it cracked from top to bottom. It was not a clean break- jagged,taking up the whole window. Then came bigger rocks, chipping away at the surface,until one day a huge boulder came crashing through…such a terrific noise it made! What a great explosion, it took out all the glass. Now what’s left is an empty window pane;  the house is debris filled from the winds that blow in from all the four corners. Dust,rain,leaves all blowing in. And this is the window you want me to keep looking through? No thanks, I’ve better things to do.

-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012

To Self Publish or Not to Self Publish

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To Self Publish or Not to Self Publish
by Eva Santiago

“What do these famous authors and their novels listed here have in common? Mark Twain– Huckleberry Finn, John Grisham– A Time to Kill, Walt Whitman-Leaves of Grass, Richard Paul Evans– The Christmas Box , Beatrix Potter- Creator of The Peter Rabbit series and Julia Child– the Joy of Cooking. These are among the many famous authors who self-published their works first then went on to become best sellers. These writers never gave up after receiving numerous rejection letters from publishing houses. So they took a stab at it an did it themselves. What followed for them was that once they self published, the publishers took note and picked up their self published work.

Before I had written one word of my first book, As Clear as Claire Gets, A Conversation with the Past, I did my home work. I was astonished to find that one of my favorite writers, Mark Twain had gone through the self publishing process. Would a major publisher take note of my work? But then I read a long list of other authors who had done the same thing and I thought, ‘ There’s obviously something to this! ‘ So heck yeah, I went for it! I self published my first book,which is my life story. As Clear as Claire Gets,is a legacy to my family. I didn’t promote it much and I did sell some copies. I also have it in a couple of libraries here in town. I was hoping to use it as a stepping stone and it did work that way. As Clear as Claire Gets, is long because I didn’t have the money to hire a professional editor. But alas, the writing business is a learning process like no other right?
A year and a half after my first book, I finished my second manuscript. Salsa! The Taste of Life, is a volume of mostly short stories with some poetry. I was thinking of self publishing again; I seriously had my doubts about sending it anyplace. One of my daughters kept telling me that she thought it was very good and that I ought to send it in to a publisher. I was terrified of those terrible rejection letters so I said no way. But I started looking around on line and I was overwhelmed with the whole process of having to have a literary agent in order to even pitch anything to most major publishers. So I kept looking and then I found Tate Publishing; one of the very few publishers left who still take manuscripts without all the hassle. So I sent them my manuscript and held my breath for several weeks. Six weeks later I received the news of my life: We want to publish Salsa! , the email read. They also informed me that out of hundreds of manuscripts they receive every year, they only publish 4% of those. I had made the cut, I was elated!So what have I learned from self publishing verses traditional publishing? Well for one, I had an editor assigned to help me polish my work and I thoroughly enjoyed it because it helped me see my writing in a new light. I also lost the fear of having my project scrutinized by the editor’s professional eye and realized she was there to help me take my writing to a whole new level. When I self published I had no idea what to do to market my book. Now, I am being trained by Tate Publishing so I can learn how to get my book out there. They invested in me so now they are going to do their best to make sure I do well because if Salsa! Succeeds it’s good news for them.

Self publishing gave me a tremendous confidence that I never had before and traditional publishing took that confidence I already had to a whole new level.- EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012″

http://hendersonwritersgroup.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-15th-meeting-notes.html

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Leigh's avatarSimply Senia

Just about anyone with a Facebook account knows that Mark Zuckerberg had the idea for the social media platform while he was a college student at Harvard. Named one of the wealthiest people in the world by Time magazine in 2010, he was already a billionaire by age 23. Although Zuckerberg is one of the best-known success stories out there, many other entrepreneurs have struck it big before they were legally allowed to vote.

They may not be household names, but here are five other ‘treps who started successful businesses before the age of 18:

Sarah Buckel, 16

Disney Channel fan Sarah wanted a colorful locker like the ones that she saw on her favorite TV shows but did not want to deal with the hassle of scraping sticky papers off of her locker door at the end of the school year. When Sarah’s dad began working at a company…

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WORD PICTURE #11

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She saw him in her dream.
Emilio was there
Looking just like in times gone by.
The same boyish face-
That once made her heart trip;
looked at her in a desolate stare.
Her heart’s door- he closed recently.
His heart’s door – closed long ago when Sofia left.
She followed him just like old times.
He never stopped.
She pursued.
He deflected.
Sofia prayed.
Emilio ran.
She called.
He never answered.
Sofia hope against all hope for them both.
Emilio’s well of hope dried out long ago.
He only tried to survive his own hell.
She wept.
He had no tears.
She wept for them both.
She changed as did he.
Change is good,
It helped them both move on.

Now when she dreams of him she smiles-to have known him only for the blink of an eye was knowing him for a life time. No one could take that away from her-not even that old devil itself called time.

-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012

 

WHAT THE OTHERS HAVE SAID

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Today I will post quotes from famous writers. This writing business is tough folks. So next time you run into a writer friend just show him/her some love because it is rough out here in the writing world!

A writer should say to himself, not, How can I get more money?, but How can I reach more readers (without lowering standards)?- Brian Aldiss

 

It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.- Isaac Asimov

 

Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil – but there is no way around them.- Isaac Asimov

 

He was such a bad writer, they revoked his poetic license.- Milton Berle

 

I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly.- Edgar Rice Burroughs

 

 

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.- Orson Scott Card

 

 

There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing — to find honest men to publish it — and to get sensible men to read it.- Charles Caleb Cotton

 

 

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.- F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Don’t be dismayed by the opinions of editors, or critics. They are only the traffic cops of the arts.- Gene Fowler

 

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.- Ernest Hemingway

 

My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.- Ernest Hemingway

 

 

As for the adjective, when in doubt leave it out.- Mark Twain

 

 

A critic is a man who knows the way but can’t drive the car.- Kenneth Tynan

 

 

Inside every fat book is a thin book trying to get out.- Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE UPSIDE OF LIFE…

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Happy Sunday everyone! I was in a bit of a pensive mood so I decided to look up encouraging words to brighten your day. In this season of political slandering there is so much negativity trashing the air waves.I hope to help clean up the air waves :), if only in some small way, by posting something positive on my blog today. Look up people, it’s not as bad as they are making it seem. Thanks for stopping in and I always say my followers are AWESOME!!!!

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012