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Showing posts with label illustrations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illustrations. Show all posts

Monday, March 3, 2014

All The Books Around The World.. ..A journey In Writing...Part One

      

     Many people have asked about my books and writing of the books and stories. I promised to do a blog with all of them and it has taken some time to do what I really wanted to do. I wanted to share not only the books, but the links where they can be found. There are many other places to find the books and they can even be ordered from your favorite books stores. When I began writing and first got online with the internet I felt it was my way to reach out beyond where I am. I wanted to be able to not just fade away but to feel alive. When I published the first book I did not know if there would be a chance for any future when they told me how critical the cancer was. Every heart beat brought me close to being inoperable. I was not strong enough or have enough lung capacity to survive the surgery. I worked with treatments until they could do the surgery. I had two novels I had written but had to decide what one I would choose to publish knowing it may be the only chance I would have.

I loved Journey Home. It is a novel and a story I think you will not soon forget. I also love Life Goes On. When I first got the idea to write this story I wanted to share something others could relate to. I wanted to write it to feel so real you would know the people, share their pain, and gain an insight to some of the problems and issues others might have with economics, home, family, children, teenagers, and the dangers of the choices we make in life with consequences that may be far reaching. I wanted it to be a story that would take the reader with them all into the story and life.

There is a new reality television show here sharing the life in a rural area of Hard, Arkansas. Life Goes On takes you into the life this family works to build as the relocate from north to south and city to country with children who do not want to go. None of them dreamed they would go from a life of stability with a good job, beautiful home, safe schools, friends and neighbors to unemployed and life cascading out of control. The loss of job results in a loss of home and moving to a rough neighborhood and a life they had never really understood. You can read the story and feel the people. You can experience the life as they learn to adapt. Many people love the reality shows. This is a work of fiction but has the feel of real life and real people in a place many call home.

Children are survivors and adapt to environment. The environment was not one that any parent would choose, but also not one they could avoid. When they could not pay rent there they were facing a future of being homeless or taking the offer of help from a relative and relocation.

We may pass people who are homeless and often look away. We never really see them or think of who they are or were, and where they came from to arrive in such circumstances. People who have worked for years at the jobs and building their lives suddenly find themselves in situations loosing their homes and struggling to survive. What if there was no place to go? What if there was no one to help? This family had few choices left and a long way to go in miles and transitions.
Each person would have changes, challenges and problems with choices that could affect not only them but their whole family and those they love. They would have to live with the consequences and find a way to go on ….. as Life Goes On.

When I was looking for the links to my book, I wanted to share the links to all of the countries it may be found. I have compiled a list of the Amazon sites.

Before that I want to also explain that every one of my book covers is one of my pieces of art. Many are my paintings and some a from my photos worked to be special for the book or art from pastels. Life Goes On is one of my photos we took many years ago as we traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Arkansas. The sky was ablaze with color and it took my breath away. It was that special time of evening just before darkness. When I saw the headlights of the cars, the thought occurred to me wondering about those who traveled that evening. They each had their own stories, places to go and pasts they left behind. I knew that was right for this story. Life Goes On.

This is a list of the countries I will provide links for through Amazon.....

US United States            UK United Kingdom            IN India
DE Germany                  FR France                         ES Spain
IT Italy                           JP Japan                           BR Brazil
CA Canada                    CN China                          MX Mexico
AU Austrailia


I have author pages in the US at http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nance/e/B004PVDVR4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 and the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linda-Nance/e/B004PVDVR4/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1393520462&sr=1-2-ent
There are many other place I often go and have sites such a linkedin, goodreads, twitter and many others. For today I will share the Amazon links to all of the books and all of the countries I could find.

This is the original picture I use for the cover of Journey Home and the final cover for the book.




When I wanted to reach around the world I truly felt as if I was seeing my books in all of these places


LIFE GOES ON

256 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1453780138 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1453780130
BISAC: Fiction / General

LIFE GOES ON The Family of five found themselves in crisis as they were evicted from their apartment after the father lost his job. With great trepidation they accepted help from a relative that offered them a place to live and new start in life. They had no choices except seeing their family homeless in a rough part of the city. It was not an easy adjustment for any of them as they experienced moments that would test their sense of humor and times that would test their strength of character. There were some difficult issues they would have to face and how they responded could have life altering consequences. Learning what family can mean was a lesson each person learned in their own way. This is a story of people and a place they would work to make their home. It is struggle, heart, moments of triumph and times of despair. It is a story that speaks to many of us in different ways as the characters struggle with life. They had weathered the difficult transition of the relocation and would face new challenges as life goes on for them all. Life Goes On is a dramatic story worth reading and remembering.










AMAZON PAPERBACK http://www.amazon.in/Life-Goes-Linda-Nance/dp/1453780130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393523882&sr=8-1&keywords=LINDA+NANCE

DE KINDLE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B004XJ6U26








JP KINDLE https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B004XJ6U26


AMAZON PAPERBACK



AMAZON PAPERBACK

AMAZON PAPERBACK



The more I get into this, the more I feel the excitement. With every book and story I wrote, I wanted it to be more than just a story to entertain. I wanted it to feel real and let you get to know the people and be able to see the places. As I worked to find all of the links for the books I really did get the feeling or reaching out beyond these walls as I sit here typing.
I love this book. It is the first novel I ever wrote but one that will always have a special place in my heart. Many people have asked me how long it took me to write it. I have no real answer except that life got in the way. I did not give up on it and worked for many years before it became what it is today.



How would you feel if you believed and knew someone was watching, following, even stalking you and no one took it seriously? Lara relocated thinking she would leave her problems behind. She met new people, made new friends and saw some from her past when she went back to what she thought of as her childhood home. She had to stay for nine months but found those nine months could be a life time or and end to life depending on finding the truth and realizing who she could trust.

What it you looked out your window as darkness approached and instead of enjoying the view, you wondered who and what might be looking in? These were just some of the problems this young woman would face. Her new friends seemed too good to be true but she could not stop the feelings she began to experience for the man who might have the most to gain if she failed to stay or anything happened to her.

Knowing who to trust could be an impossible thing but being alone could be disastrous. The problems she was having were more than an infatuation that developed into stalking. Life and death could be the result for her and anyone close to her. Were the feelings she could not control for Alan real, or would they be what destroyed her? Were her new friends too good to be true or a blessing and her only hope?

Home is more than a place you live or an address where you receive mail. Home is a place in the heart. For this woman to find her way on her Journey Home to find a Home of heart she would have to survive. She would have to survive the Journey Home and find a way to live life.

I had the story, but I needed a cover. I thought of so many things I could try to use. I still hardly knew how to use a computer and the frustration trying to learn so many new things was almost more than I could survive.
Many years ago I did a painting for my father-in-law. I did not have fancy art supplies. I had used a simple piece of typing paper and a 99 cent tray of children's watercolor paints. I got a piece of paper towel and some brushes and tried to capture the sky and the place. All of these years later he is gone from us now but the painting and memories are still alive in our hearts. I knew that was what I wanted for the cover of Journey Home. We each have paths in life we travel and this painting was a path in a place so like the book describes. It may be a path Lara would have walked. I may be a path I would love to walk. It was the path that would take the story Journey Home forward to becoming a book I could hold in my hands.

This is the original painting.



Here are some of the places Journey Home has traveled....

JOURNEY HOME

480 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1456507213 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1456507214
BISAC: Fiction / General

Contemporary family-oriented story with suspense.
Journey Home Lara Stanley’s life is about to drastically change as she embarks on her journey home after the death of her uncle. Join in the journey with mystery, romance, drama and a story to remember. Have you ever wondered as darkness falls and you look out the window, if there is someone or something looking in? A story that takes you with a woman on a journey to find her way in life. Home is more than a place, but it can also be filled with questions and even danger. Finding the truth might be all that saves her.
Journey Home

Even from the grave, love comes to make sure the Journey Home is safe and fulfilling—excellent suspense keeps pages turning ‘til the end- GABixlerReviews

Linda Nance awakens the reader’s understanding of what greed, hate, revenge and deceit really mean. –Fran Lewis




















AMAZON PAPERBACK



AMAZON PAPERBACK

AMAZON PAPERBACK




That brings me to The Pumpkin Field. This is one book that will always be dear to our hearts with a long history even before it became a book. When our boys were young they came home from school telling how much they hated poetry. I explained that a poem is many things. A poem could actually tell a story. They laughed and made young boy faces saying “Yuck, it would be a love story.”

I decided to write a poem about a haunted pumpkin field. Most children and many adults love a ghost or haunted story. I wanted it to be more than a poem and more than a story. I wanted it to be something we could use to explore thoughts, dreams, fears, hopes, and more. I wanted it to be something that could generate enough interest they might begin to explore their own thoughts and creativity.

For many years that is what it was. It was a little poem with a big reach. If a child was afraid of the dark the first part was something I could use to help them understand that night is not bad.....it is a different kind of light. With teenagers and older people they could find and see more. They could and did relate it to life as we find darkness and shadows in life and we have to find a way to find our way. What lies in the darkness and shadows?



My witch does not eat people or hurt people. She is old, ugly and dresses strange. She is different and scary. That does not always mean that different is bad. What we see on the outside is not always what is on the inside or real of the person we see. There are many forms of prejudice and most come from what is different or we do not understand. If we could overcome our fears and look beyond appearances we could come to a much deeper understanding and also discover some amazing people we might have feared or disregarded. I tired to write the entire story in a way that people of all ages could relate to and children would love.



The local schools began to use the poem in their classes at Halloween time of the year and I even did posters with the characters. The State Park near here used it as a focal point and special thing for the children with me reading the story, poem at their Halloween event. The newspapers took pictures of the posters and told all about it.

My husband told me I just had to make it into a book. He believed in me. To do it justice I would want the illustrations to follow the story. That is a lot of art work. How and what to do? Day by day and page by page I decided to work with Pastels to do the pictures. I did full page pictures so the children could really enjoy the book with full color. My little poem became a book.


I thought back to the many time through the years we gathered around a bonfire and I told the little story. Our children, neighborhood children, friends and relatives loved the little poem, story and asked for it over and over. Now they bring their children to hear it and have the book to read. I had to laugh when one many told me it was Christmas time and his two daughters had to have him read them the Pumpkin Field as a bedtime story.


I was overjoyed when I heard from one reader in England who had shared the book with her daughter's class at their grade school. She said her daughter never tired of the book and they read it together over and over. When I found out classes and schools in another country were enjoying my little book there are no words to describe the emoticon I felt.

I may be sick, old, crippled and have problems but as I sat here at home typing, drawing and working on the books that I love I really did feel as if I had escaped these walls and a part of me reached around the world sharing something special to me. I kept the original sketches before I did the pastels for the book. Since my grandson was a baby I used them for coloring pages. He love it. He could make decorations for Halloween and also use them to make his own little book. I would staple them together and he would add to the pictures making his own little stories.

I have had more than one person tell me how stupid I was to not make a coloring book and sell it. I may one day but I wanted to have pages others could copy for free and the children to be able to do as many as they wanted. Each child seems to pick one character that is their favorite. In a coloring book that is one page. For free they can copy as many as they want. Some choose a pumpkin and some choose the scarecrow or even the witch.

That little boy that colored the pictures and stapled the pages together making his little books never gave up on the idea. He has told me that is not the end of the story. There is more to it. I smiled and encouraged him to tell me more of his ideas.

We have worked and he loves his stories. I wrote a book called An Adventure In Writing. It is a journal type thing of what we learned and worked on for an 8 year old to write a book with a story and characters I believe not only children but adults might find interesting. It shares part of his first book called Down The Path http://www.amazon.com/Down-Path-Linda-Nance-ebook/dp/B00GW51ED4/ref=la_B004PVDVR4_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393874832&sr=1-1 and the next one he is still working on he said he will call Beyond The Pumpkin Field.

I have heard it said, to write what we know and he does that naturally. I have to smile at parts knowing what is behind the words and stories. We live in a very rural area with miles of forest behind the house. He knows to never go into the woods alone. He knows there are animals there. He knows he is supposed to listen to us and his mom but in his story the children thought just this once it would be alright to go into the woods. I would tell you more but will save it for when I do that book. I tell it now because the little story of The Pumpkin Field was the beginning. It was the beginning of him wanting to write his own stories and books and the beginning of many conversations with young and old alike.


We still love to get out back around a fire and tell stories with family and friends. This is one picture of my little coauthor and his grandpa.



The Pumpkin Field is a little book with a big reach. It reached through the years and around the world. Here are some of the places it can be found.

THE PUMPKIN FIELD

40 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1461044819 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1461044812
BISAC: Juvenile Fiction / Holidays & Celebrations / Halloween

Through the years as I have told or read this story the children sat listening to every word. When the story is over it is only beginning as the questions flood forth about all different things from the different children. I see emotions relating to excitement, curiosity and a desire to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences and questions. 
 
Each and every page is an art work done to bring the story to life. I am so pleased to be able to share something so special in so many ways. The characters are ones that will remain in memory not to haunt but to be happy memories almost like friends on an adventure. The first of the book allows you to write to and from, making it a gift that is special just as you would a greeting card. This is a greeting of happy memories and good times shared. 
 
In a short and magically poetic story many doors open allowing communication on various topics and of as many thoughts as are possible in the young minds of those who share the tale. It is not just a story to tell but one that can be special in many ways. 
 
On this journey through the pumpkin field there are strange, ominous, mysterious, and even magical things that occur. Was it real or was it a dream? Could that be why it is requested even now into a new generation? I hope that my illustrations will bring this tale to life and just as my children and grandchildren and so many others have loved this tale, it will bring a special smile and create memories shared by all who read or receive it. This book is my gift to be passed on and shared, that can live on and reach out beyond the pages leaving delighted smiles. The Pumpkin Field is a little book with a big reach.




US KINDLE  










AMAZON PAPERBACK






AMAZON PAPERBACK

CA KINDLE https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00DIQUBIE

AMAZON PAPERBACK http://www.amazon.ca/Pumpkin-Field-Linda-Nance/dp/1461044812/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393527484&sr=1-5

MX KINDLE https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00DIQUBIE
AMAZON PAPERBACK

AU KINDLE https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00DIQUBIE
AMAZON PAPERBACK

Before I go I want to share a few of the pages and pictures. 




At the beginning of each book I did a page where you can write to and from. I wanted each child to feel as if the book was special for them. It is sort of like a greeting card giving them a gift. I hope it will be a gift that will inspire communication, creativity, imagination and a wonderful time.







I would stay and tell you all about all of the books but I have to do things a little at a time and this is actually something I have worked on for some time. I will be back soon and share more about the books and my journey writing them. I hope you can help me share about them to others everywhere. I have to do things a little at a time and can not promote them as I would love to do. For me this is more than sharing books for sale..... it is sharing a passion, stories and something created from the heart.
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Friday, November 30, 2012

More Words about Words and the Stories That They Tell


I thought I would write a little more before I called it a night.  I have been thinking back to two years ago.  I knew little to nothing about publishing books but tried to learn as much as I could.  I felt desperate to have the chance to try with the things that I had written to see pages become books.

I had the two novels in print form and worked to make them into ebooks.  My family encouraged me to turn the poem/story I had written so many years before into a children's book.  My husband could hardly wait to see it as a book.  He had seen the way it affected people of all ages through the years.  I have said it is a little book with a long reach.

I still have to smile as I think back so long ago with what inspired the story to begin with.  Our boys were young and came home from school complaining that they were having to study poetry in school.  They seemed to feel abused with the very thought.  I laughed and asked them why?  When they explained that all poetry was awful and went on to make faces and comments I explained that poetry can tell a story or create feelings and emotions.  Poetry can do so many things you would never realize.



They scoffed and gave me one of their little boy looks of disbelief.  We were out in the yard at the time and I thought of the bonfires we had had and how much they loved stories.  I decided to write a scary story in a poem.

I tried to do more than that.  I tried to write a little poem that could be used by people of all ages and in different ways with every line of the poem.  When read simply it entertains young children but does not really scare them when at the end it mentions it might have been a dream.  It does however open the door to communication of all different subjects from fears such as fear of the dark to dreams that might cause fear.

I love when I talk to the children and read the story.  After I read it they always begin to ask questions, tell their own thoughts, express fears or feelings and more.

I remember on time I read it to a whole class of first graders.  When a whole class sits quietly the whole time I consider that a great compliment to hold their interest.  My grandson was in the class too and it warmed my heart when he came up and put his arm around me and said "This is MY Grandma!"

When I had finished reading the questions and comments brought the room to life.  I had a wonderful time.  I love to see the expressions on their faces and hear the excitement in their voices.  When I see their eyes light up it always makes me smile.

I explained that I bet they knew making good grades was important.  They all agreed.  I told them there was something even more important.  Several of them frowned and looked confused.  Finally one of them asked what that was.  "To learn...  You don't realize it yet but your teacher is giving you a gift that will last you whole life.  She is giving you something special that will be like magic helping you to do things you could never dream of with out that gift."

They could hardly wait to find out what the gift was.  The gift of learning opens doors to the world and gives you a chance to reach out and be more than you ever dreamed in the first grade.  What they learned was more than a grade on the paper.... it is a gift in life.

We talked about writing.  I showed them the novels too.  They all agreed that they could never do anything like that.  I told them that my grandson and I were working on a book together.  A story has a beginning, middle and end.


I worked to do the art work with pastels and charcoal and hoped to bring the characters to life.  I wanted the pictures to have appeal and depth but still carry a child like fun aspect to the characters and scenes.  I did many of the pages so in book form the left page was a picture but it flowed and matched the page on the right to give a full scene.


Every page in the book is a full page art work.  It took a lot of work and time but I love the way it turned out.

There are aspects of the simple little story that allow the parent to teach in many ways.  The sights of the field in the day as compared to the view at night was a fun project many little ones have found fun and a source that initiated many conversations with them sharing thoughts, feelings, fears, and questions.  I have known many children who were afraid of the dark.  When the story speaks of shadows cast in the moon light, I have seen the look of surprise as I showed a child the beauty of the night.  Is it dark outside?   Yes….and no…especially if the moon is full on a clear night filled with stars sparkling to infinity.  It is not so much that the night is dark as it is different degrees of the light and what we can ind is not nearly as fearsome as they thought.


The witch does cause freight.  She and her sister are so ugly, dress differently, and act differently but at the end we realize that neither of the witches did any harm.  Different is often something that others fear but it is not always bad. 

Halloween is a time for fun when the children can delight in a safe scary story or tale to be told and retold.  This is a tale they can enjoy for years to come and they would be able to see different things in the simple words as they grew older or experienced more things in life.

At one point a young man we knew visited.  I could tell he had something on his mind.  I read the story to the younger children and saw a frown and look on his face that I recognized showing there were things he wanted to share.

Later as the children roasted their hot dogs we stepped off to the side and he smiled.  "I know you have said the little story was something we never really out grow, because it can have meaning more than we realize.  I see so much more in it now than ever before.  When I used to hear the first line about it was the dark of night and the moon shone bright casting shadows on things below.... I used to think that was all it was saying.  Now I think about my life and realize there are shadows sometimes and it is really hard to know what is waiting in the future.  Sometimes it can seem really dark."  He went on as if it had opened a flood gate talking from his heart line by line applying the little poem to life, and comparing it from when he had first heard it as a young child and then as it held meaning to him being a young adult.

By the time the evening was over he seemed somewhat relieved.  He seemed to have worked his way through finding his own answers to some questions he never had to ask as he contemplated the meaning the different lines one by one.

When we were working to clean the limbs from our back yard we often would light a fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows.  It was years later when our children were grown before they realized we were actually cleaning the yard.  I had to laugh at them when they realized it.  At a family reunion they were all gathered talking when I saw them looking at me and laughing.  When I questioned them my daughter finally admitted "Mom, all those years we thought we were having bonfires and we were really cleaning the yard.  I never saw it until after the ice storm and we had gathered the broken branches in a pile and I could hear you saying...If we only had a few branches we could have a bonfire and roast hot dogs.  We raced to get as many as we could."

I had to laugh and explained a little more.  "If I had told you all to clean the yard, I can only imagine how much enthusiasm I would see.  My way the yard was clean, we had a bonfire, I did not have to cook supper and we did have some really good times."

We always had extra children visit.  We would often have the grill fired up and a whole yard full by the time we lit the fire.  I loved to get their imagination going and often would think up a story or two to tell.  Then I would tell them it was their turn.  We would play a little game I had made up and called pass it on.

There is wooded area around our yard so it was easy to start it out with "A long time ago in some woods just like these....(Pause for affect and make it a little more spooky gazing out into the woods)  A boy and girl walked down a path like that little on right there.  As they walked deeper into the woods do you know what they saw?"


Usually by then all eyes were either on me or the woods as they shook their heads no and one would ask what they saw.  I would laugh and tell them I had no idea.  "It's your turn.  What did they see when they walked down the path in the woods?"

One by one they would go around the circle telling a little piece of the story they made up until it was time to let the next one take over and tell a little more.  They passed the story from one to the next until it finally came to an end.

I loved to see the way their eyes would light up as they became a part of it and realized they were making a story.  They could do it too.  Words can have power in more than just what they tell but also in what they inspire.




I have it in my mind to never give up.  I could hardly wait to work revising and editing the next novel I have written I want to publish called Danny. 

I am still not sure about the cover??????

  A young child trapped in a nightmare life had a special friend.  His friend told him, that he could call him Danny.  Danny was his only friend.  No one but Steven could see or hear Danny.  Was Danny a friendly ghost there protecting, or was there more to this entity than anyone might suspect?  Steven began to think Danny might be a Guardian Angel but angel or evil…only time would tell….. because Steven would tell no one and betray his friend, and that friend was there to stay.
          Steven eventually made two new friends at school who shared so much in their disturbed and distraught family lives.  They were about to share more as things began to occur beyond their control.
           Sneaking through the darkness of night, Steven went to his friend Jimmy’s house.  The drama that occurred at Jimmy’s house was mild compared to the conclusion of the activities he had left behind.
          Tragedy and chaos, murder and an end to life as Steven had known, erupted in his household in the dark of night. 
           They found themselves speeding down the highway with a man of questionable character as they left a life behind that felt like a nightmare with no hope.  Where they would go was a question only the future and life could answer.  The real life nightmare they left was more than they could imagine as the night of changes swiftly developed in all directions. 


         Three young boys fled in the night.  It was a night that would change their lives forever.  If it was a new beginning or a nightmare of a different kind, only time would tell….and we can not forget Danny.  He would not want to be left behind.  “You can call me Danny.”

I could hardly wait but then a strange thing happened.  I felt compelled to write a book I never wanted or intended to write that was nonfiction.  I felt I had to share some of my own story.  I needed to find words for things I could hardly think about let alone talk about.  I wanted to find words for feelings that could still make me cry.  I had to find a way to explain things that were feelings, fears, hopes and dreams.  Since I still do not know what my own future will be and we never know the number of our days I did not feel I could wait.  If I could write from the heart and it helped even one other person to see hope and not give up the book would be worth it.  Even when I talk about writing the book it evokes emotions for me.  The hour is late and I am very tired so I think I will continue this tomorrow.  Tomorrow is not only a new day but a day to mark not only my birth but a new beginning.  I think of each and every day as a special day for new beginnings and who knows what we will find.  I will be back.  I am determined to share the passion of my heart about the project of my writing.  I Will Not Give Up...Not Today... Life Is A Journey..    and so it is and so I titled the book that is me.





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