MY eBOOKS: book trailers on YouTube *why not take a peek?

My books are PARCA’S FORSAKEN; I LOVE YOU ELEVETEEN; The Saving of NATION.

I have self-published 3 books on AMAZON and they are selling pretty well and I have had some 5 and 4 star reviews, but even I dn't have a Kindle! I do howebver, have a free Amazon Kindle app and its great. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000493771 ).

I believe success in writing is 50% talent and 50% luck…and I thank you for the ‘luck’ part with your patronage, word of mouth and Amazon written reviews!

Below are my 3 YouTube book trailers (and 1 Photo-Art slideshow of my photography) should you wish to see if they are your cup of tea before thinking of getting them. 

MANY HUMBLE THANKS from an ink stained quill pusher.

 

Parca's Forsaken

 

The Saving of NATION

 

I Love You Eleventeen

THANK YOU!

Newspaper Virgin: How I Kept My Hyphen Intact

My last AUTHOR MINGLE article was all about faces and the ones we offer the public via our work (profile pics, avatars, dust jacket portraits, etc…). I crooned about how I would only use my most flattering images regardless of how illogically youthful or outdated they were. My image was mine own!

Little did I know that I would soon be scrounging through every drawer in the house looking for an ‘original’ picture of myself for my first newspaper interview.

The irony was so thick I could almost taste metal. None of my good old standby photos (read: de-wrinkled) of myself would suffice because they were scanned. The paper needed an original file for optimum clarity in their article. I was trapped. 

But that happened after the interview. The beginning was far worse. Or should I say, the pre-beginning was worse. The reporter was to call at 1:00 p.m. my time and by 12:30, I was pacing up and down the room in front of the phone, wondering what questions were going to be asked and what the hell the names of my main characters were.  I had written and self-pubbed three books. Why the hell did I have to write three? What were they about again? My mind was beyond blank and verging on implosion.

And then The Big One hit: should I spell my name with or without a hyphen? Which looked less complicated…more memorable…attractive? Which looked less feminist…or did I want it more Gloria Steinemesque?

Thus begun my virginal foray into the world of newspaper interviews. 

The phone interview with a reporter from my hometown newspaper turned out to be a valuable exercise in self-awareness: I was aware of my much-too-loud laugh, my raspy voice that sounded like I was born smoking a cigar, my inability to string four words together without adding the ever-so-eloquent ‘ummm’ and my propensity to think faster than my lips would move. Oh, and I became keenly aware that when being recorded on tape, I get the inexplicable urge to belt out a Tarzan/Carole Burnett-like jungle call and/or giggle uncontrollably like Betty Boop on laughing gas.

The clock proved that the interview took 20 minutes, but it felt like 2. What had I said? Did I just ruin my career and put a giant cork in my bottle of opportunity? I vaguely remember saying the words Hitler, mother and church. Did that mean I said my mother met Hitler at church? 

I moaned my way to the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub with my head in my hands, trying to decide if I should drown myself in it, but I knew there was a part of me that still yearned to see, at least once, an article in the newspaper about my books. Even if I couldn’t recall their titles. *I think I said one was called Twilight and another one Harry Potter something-or-other…

I then recalled every important detail I forgot to mention and turned on the water. 

In the end though, I didn’t do a swan-dive with a half twist into my bathtub and I didn’t actually embarrass myself too badly in the article. I took five million selfies and tried not to look like my great-grandfather after one-too-many potato-distilled vodkas, and my sister Rhonda helped choose the least ridiculous of the lot and I sent it in, hoping it would be stamp-sized and airbrushed.

It was neither. The photo took up 2/3 of the page and my black Leno streak in my silver hair looked like I was wearing Pepe Le Pew on my head. But it was done. I had survived and apparently, I was still a ‘Sevier-Fries’.

So, despite being scared and nervous, my first time wasn’t as painful as I feared, my hyphen remained intact and I could still claim my name as untouched.

What more could a girl ask for?

**Here is the article, although you may have to subscribe to The Dauphin Herald to view the following link…sorry!

 

Link to the most charming lil' newspaper in Manitoba: Dauphin Herald article

MY FIRST INTERVIEW: Feeling Kinda Special Now...But It'll Pass.

You Oughta Know Author Denise Sevier-Fries

Filed in Authors You Oughta Know by Author Mingle on June 22, 2013

What is the name of your book and if you had to sum up a description in 40 words or less, what would you say? The name of my book is The Saving of NATION. Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun married a mere 36 hours before committing joint suicide. This seems a fruitless gesture unless you see how it would legitimize their child. A child hidden and raised in Canada postwar. This is his story.

Where did you get your idea for your book? I got my inspiration for this book from my father-in-law, now deceased, whom I never met. One day he was a carefree young man, a carpenter’s apprentice with a bright future and a girl he was drumming up the courage to propose to, and the next day, he was a soldier in Hitler’s army. He left his home a sweet young boy and returned a bitter man with only one eye and more scars than the ones caused by shrapnel too deep to remove safely. I married his son, who was visiting Canada one year…a decent , kind and loving man affected but not ruined by his father’s fate. After wondering how my husband turned out to be so much the opposite of such a damaged father, I began to wonder how a son of Hitler might have turned out, especially after finding out his true identity upon becoming a man on his 18th birthday. Could anything good come from such evil…or would his blood be his poison?

When did you publish this book? I self-published this book April 2 2013 on Amazon KDP Select.

Is your book part of a series? No. Not yet anyway. Should it become a bestseller, I might write a sequel!

What is the most important thing about your book you would like to share with potential readers? The Saving of NATION is not a story about war or Hitler as such, but a message of how we all, despite our pasts or predestined fate, have the choice to control our own destiny.

What was the hardest part of writing your book? The hardest part of writing this book was balancing my life around the actual writing of it; I have a husband, five children and a cat and when I write, I disappear and they are not a part of my world anymore. Slipping back into reality can be draining. Luckily, they were all very supportive, due in no small part, to my threatening to use their names as horrible characters in my book should they pester me and make me lose my train of thought…

What is your next writing project? I am knee deep in a novel about the tragically, and shamefully, forgotten segment of Canadian history that saw tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants and Landed Immigrants alike, imprisoned in concentration camps in Canada during the First World War. Even librarians try to correct me and say only the Japanese were interned in Canada during the Second World War and I have to give them a history lesson. Shockingly and sadly enough, my college Sociology professor didn’t know either, and that was my inspiration to finally write this new book.

What formats are your book available in: The Saving of NATION is currently an ebook available on Amazon.

Where can readers find you?

Website
Blog: Parca’s Chosen
Amazon

Facebook

GoodReads
Twitter: @denisesf5

YOUTUBE Book Trailers:
The Saving of NATION
Parca’s Forsaken
I Love You Eleventeen

What is your name and where are you located? I am Denise Sevier-Fries and I live in Comox, BC.

Do you write under a pen name?No. I will take the full credit and lumps that come with people knowing your identity.

What books have influenced your writing? I love the Jack Whyte historical fiction series The Dream of Eagles; Diana Gabaldon’s Highlander series; Anita Diamant’s inspiring The Red Tent and thousands of others! I also love the classics Pride and Prejudice, The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill A Mockingbird.

What inspired you to first write? I am a storyteller and love to engage people in my tales…so putting the words down on paper was the natural evolution of that inherent trait, I suppose.

What have you learned the most about being a writer/author? I have birthed 5 books and 5 children and it is hard to decide which was the least painful. They have all caused me, at one time or another, immeasurable joy, unholy suffering and fodder for my blogs and books. I have also learned that my husband and my children may be my heart and soul, but writing and photography are my air and water and I need them all to survive. I have also learned that writing, even with all its extreme ups and downs, is by far, MUCH easier than trying to get published and having ones work actually read.

Do you see writing as a career? Indeed I do. When I began this book (which was the first I’d ever written), it was in the wee hours of the morning and I was so engaged in writing it, that when my daughter returned to my desk to give me a second kiss goodbye before hurrying off to school, I chastised her for dillydallying and told her she was going to be late…but she looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and said, “But mom…I just came back from school. That was a kiss hello.” I was stunned. The whole day had passed and it had felt like a minute. I had found my vocation; for better or worse, I was a writer. So, yes, I need to believe that I can eventually feed myself from this job that chose me so persuasively.

Is there an Author that you would really like to meet? Jack Whyte or JK Rowling would be a massive treat!

Do you have any advice for other writers? Compare yourself to everybody and nobody.

What is the one most important thing others should know about you? I am not Norman Mailer. (*yes…there is a story behind that)

MEDIA-WHORING PSEUDO-MASOCHISTIC BOOTLICKER: a.k.a. The Self-Publisher

Define Media Whore:  ‘A person who has a psychological need to get into TV, Film, Radio or Print’

Define Masochist:  ‘A person who obtains sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or suffering upon themselves’

Define Bootlicker: ‘An obsequious or overly deferential person; a toady’

                                                                        

                                                                     *

Now that we have established what these terms mean, we can evaluate why I have come to the conclusion that I have become a perfect example of the combination of them. And if you have ever written anything to sell...you will be one too. Sorry. It's the nature of the beast, I'm afraid.

First, let me assure you that I am not degrading myself (or you). This may seem illogical considering the individual words, but truly, my evolution into a Media Whoring Pseudo-Masochistic Bootlicker M.W.P.M.B. (sorry, it’s not a clever acronym but I couldn’t figure out how to make S.E.X.K.I.T.T.E.N work) has been enlightening, liberating and, I must say, a whole lot of fun.

The addition of the prefix ‘pseudo’ was meant to dilute the intensity of the sexual slant of the word, but it was necessary as I simply I do not 'get off' from self-publishing and marketing my books. I just suck in the pain and suffering part of it all and like skipping gramaphone record, repeat, repeat, repeat. I do get a huge thrill after clicking the ‘submit manuscript’ button on Amazon KDP Select, but it's hardly orgasmic. Sure, I get slightly dizzy, light up a pilfered cigarette and have to cuddle the nearest pillow for a minute afterwards, but doesn’t everyone?

When I finished writing my novel The Saving of NATION, I made a grand effort to SP (Self-Publish) it. I had SP two other books before, but never really tried to sell them, thinking that the sheer brilliance of my writing and genius premises would attract large swaths of agents and publishers, like the Devout running to a statue of The Virgin Mary bleeding from the eyes. However, I was soon introduced to the thoroughly obnoxious Mr. Reality, after receiving dozens of rejection letters. And now, as they say in the SP biz, I agree with the generally accepted SP Motto “The writing is the easy part”. Yes…the promoting/schlepping is absolute killer: finding an eye or ear big enough to help get your work on top of the Heap That Never Shrinks. 

For a long while, I was the petulant child, huffing form indignation, turning my back on the writing world who was shunning me, and vowed to never write again.

It didn't last.

I would check out that self-publishing thing...

So, that is what I did, and am doing. I Self-Published, then set out to promote, spotlight, highlight, advertise and generally shove my book down as many throats as humanly possible without getting bitten. The fact is, we SP will do almost anything to get published. It's what we live for, dream about and work hard for. 

I started out with the usual ‘FFF&T’ (family, friends, FaceBook & Twitter). I got very lucky and had a famous author, Ian Ferguson, hop on board and kindly offer me a pull-out quote for promotions which I am flogging to death, but then I realized that the new trend towards creating book trailers was a massive attention getter, so I taught myself to make them which was, besides giving birth, the most ball-busting experience a scrotum-less female has ever survived. But survive I did and I am pleased with the results, especially for NATION (click on red highlight) which made it easy for me to offer my video-baby up for sharing on YouTube, but hoping, deep in my heart, that a King Solomon-like publisher will sweep in and make a judgement call, taking my baby away and giving it to its new mother: the buying public.

But for now I will hone my yet-undiscovered skills and continue my 100% Guaranteed Successful 6 Point SP Marketing System (that has never worked for me or anyone else):

1) Tweet dozens and dozens of journalists, magazines and newspapers around the world saying succinctly, in 140 characters or less, that MY NEW HIT NOVEL (my white lies can blind the unprotected eye) is the next best thing since sliced bread…dipped in Baily’s Irish Crème

2)  Write publishers and agents praising them for their astute business senses, keen eyes for talent and sexy on-line profile pictures. Offer them fur coats, champagne and your first born child (or the 3rd, if he/she is anything like mine!);

3) ‘LIKE' hundreds of random forums and add links to your books on sale or your websites (like my blog Parca's Chosen and my website: http://www.denisesevierfries.com/ ...see, I warned you... Media Whore) and shake things up once in a while and caption these posts with an eye-catching 'SEX SEX and MORE SEX!' title, then apologize for the trick;

4) Use pictures for the author's photo that are at least 20 years old. Sex sells and having one chin and my own teeth is definitely a more attractive look. It isn't lying...it's still 'me'. *Actually, I seem to be getting younger in every picture I use, so if you ever come across a book with a fetus on the back cover's author profile...that's me;

5) Continue to e-mail, Face Book, twitter and generally pester the rich and powerfully-connected like Oprah, Dr. Phil, Brad Pitt, Stephen Spielberg and Iron Man. 

And yes, I will continue to write books that tell the myriad stories trapped in my shrinking, greying head and I will not judge those SP writers who are trying as hard as I am to be the best MWPMB that they can be. I know I am not alone. I live on writer's forum boards and enter writing contests whenever possible, and if someone comes up with a group that can actually make S.E.X.K.I.T.T.E.N a useful writing-oriented group name, I'm in.

BITING THE E-BULLET

I did it! I self-published one of my books and it is now buried deep within a pile of about 999,999,999,999 electronic novels.

I am so proud. How many people can boast that! Well…about 999999999998 authors, but you know what I mean. Here is the link:

I wrote a story about a woman who is looking for her birth mother and gets to know her anonymously through her online blog. It is a fictional character, but I made her my long lost daughter and I am the mother she gets to know through this very blog you’re reading now!

Here is the short description of my book as found on SMASHWORDS, the online e-book publisher:

What if the first time you met you mother was on her blog. Anna Maria Fortier is a woman who survived childhood at the hands of abusive adoptive parents. She finds her birth-mother online, writing a blog called Parca’s Chosen, which gives Anna a clear insight into the happy home she should have been a part of. As she recounts her own life she is bitter, but begins to heal. Is it too late for them?

The cover art (by my talented Fine Arts Graduate daughter Chaelan Sevier!)

The extended description:

Anna Maria Fortier had only one purpose in life while growing up. She was to obey her abusive parents implicitly. And she did. Until something happened that made her realize how perverted they really were.

She worked in their Salvation Army Thrift Store and rang the bell for donations from the day she was old enough to hold it by herself. The mean streets of Akron, Ohio were her playground and the only friends she was allowed were those who lived on them. It was hard to miss love and caring in your life when you’ve never had it, but the day Anna Maria found out she was adopted, she began to hope that there was a way out of her miserable existence. Maybe she was worth something after all.

Anna Maria escaped her foul life when she was16 and fought hard to made it on her own.

Twenty years later, she was ready to connect with her birth mother. A Canadian! But at the last minute, Anna Maria backed out and decided too much time had elapsed. What good would come of anything now? Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

However, her boyfriend Brennan had other ideas. He found her birth mother online, writing a blog called Parca’s Chosen, and Anna Maria found she was able to meet her mother after all…without having to actually meet her. She had brothers and sisters who talked to cats and a German stepdad who didn’t know the difference between buying and wearing women’s underwear! Reading about the crazy antics and happy, privileged lives of those she was a part of, but never really a part of, made her confused and uncertain.

Through Anna Maria’s in-depth recounting of her own life's experiences as she reads through the blog, we see the journeys (often comical and sometimes brutal and heartbreaking) of two women who were separated by circumstance, and who now have the chance to reunite through the world of the internet.

Maybe it really was time to meet this woman who she was getting to know on the sly. The more she read through the funny and oft time’s poignant blog posts, the more Anna Maria began to forgive her mother for abandoning her. But you would never know it by the nasty comments she left.

This had the potential for a happy ending. Or just an ending.

__________________________________________________

If I should get lucky and sell well, let me just say right here and now that NO! This is NOT a memoir or true story! I did not give up a child at age 16...it's pure fiction. The only reality in this book is my blog and it's posts. OK? Okay.

Happiness would be me having to defend this statement on Oprah or on TV. That would mean success!

SO…if you please, download a copy of my book (you can use an e-reader or just your computer) and enjoy! And pass along the word! It IS an adult book, so no under 17 readers please. The link again is :

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/220931

I promise you I am not a deranged, twisted sick person…I just know a lot of them. 

CHEERS and THANKS!