Book & CD Store for Writers - Page 1
Welcome to our bookstore!
Here you'll find everything from fiction to writers' tool-books to movies about writers. We strive to make this a great mixture of fun books as well as books for the serious side of the craft.
We've planned the bookstore to make it visually appealing and easy to navigate. Use the Bookstore Overview and the Page Contents at the top of each page to find the books that most fit your needs.
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Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no greater investment.
—Stephen Covey
Bookstore Overview
FoW Fiction and Non-fiction
Banishing Writer's Block
Painless Punctuation & Grammar and Other How-To Books for Writers
Make Money at Writing
Promoting Your Book/Website
Movies, Fiction & Other Fascinating Stuff About Writers
Bookstore Contents - Page 1
FEAR OF WRITING AUTHORS - FICTION & NON-FICTION
Titles by Milli Thornton:
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Titles by Fear of Writing participants:
The Greatest Potatoes (children's book)
Stark Knight (action adventure)
Lessons In Stalking . . . Adjusting to Life With Cats
“Become a Workshop Presenter”
by Milli Thornton
Includes 42 color illustrations
Winner (e-book category) at the 2004 DIY Festival
Just looking at the table of contents, I KNOW I will enjoy learning from this e-book. You’re a jewel, Milli!
—Sandy Fleming, Pipe Creek, Texas
Find your passion and teach it!
You don't have to wait for someone to ask you to teach what you know. Learn the baby steps to becoming a workshop presenter . . . you never know what it will lead to! There are many reasons for setting out on this adventure: including promoting a book or other product, overcoming shyness, career advancement, and just plain old-fashioned fun. You will be amazed at how many skills you'll learn—or rusty skills you will dig up—by getting up in front of people to talk about your passion. Written by a shy person who DIA (did it anyway).
E-book - 120 pages (no-scroll formatting) - 1.3 MB - $21.00
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Table of Contents
— THE REWARDS OF BEING A WORKSHOP PRESENTER
— WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WORKSHOP AND A LECTURE?
— YOU KNOW SOMETHING THAT OTHERS WANT TO LEARN
— NAMING YOUR WORKSHOP
— DEVELOPING A FORMAT FOR YOUR WORKSHOP
— HOW TO PRODUCE EYE-CATCHING AND EDUCATIONAL HANDOUTS
— HOW TO WRITE A PROPOSAL FOR ADULT EDUCATION VENUES
— ADULT EDUCATION VENUES THAT WILL GIVE A BEGINNER A CHANCE
— HOW TO ORGANIZE AN INDEPENDENT WORKSHOP
— GAIN EXPERIENCE AS A SPEAKER BEFORE YOUR WORKSHOP DEBUT
— HOW TO TEST YOUR WORKSHOP ON WILLING GUINEA PIGS
— SPREAD THE WORD (CHEAPLY!) ABOUT YOUR WORKSHOP
— DESIGN AND PRODUCE A PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP BROCHURE
— YOUR MAILING LIST AND BROCHURE MAIL-OUTS
— MORE ABOUT PRESS RELEASES AND WHO TO SEND THEM TO
— TEACHER AND STUDENT, COME PREPARED
— DEVELOP A PRODUCT FOR "BACK OF THE ROOM SALES"
— TIPS FOR RUNNING A SMOOTH WORKSHOP
— INJECTING FUN INTO YOUR WORKSHOP FORMAT
— TESTIMONIALS WILL SELL YOUR WORKSHOP TO FUTURE PARTICIPANTS
— THE FUN OF LEARNING NEVER ENDS: INDEX OF RESOURCES
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Excerpt from: BECOME A WORKSHOP PRESENTER
Copyright © 2003 Milli Thornton
From Chapter Two: “What's the Difference Between a Workshop and a Lecture?”
A WORKSHOP IS more about audience participation than is a seminar or lecture. For instance, say you're a pottery expert and you've pioneered a new method for glazing and firing. You may be asked to give a scholarly talk on your discovery to a group of university teachers. But a workshop where the same art teachers get to hear the inside secrets and try it out for themselves—with clay and glaze and kilns—may be a more satisfying approach.
Lectures are useful for large groups of people when it's more appropriate to do most or all of the talking yourself. For a lecture, you may stand behind a lectern in your business suit and use an overhead projector to illustrate your major points. A workshop is for smaller groups where participants can "get their hands dirty" and learn by doing, interspersed with mini-lectures from you . . . usually in less formal clothing and in a more relaxed setting.
Artist John Farnsworth of the Farnsworth Gallery teaches the Watercolor Equus for Taos Art School. This four-day class teaches the watercolorist to "capture the spirit of the horse both in motion and in repose." John also teaches a method using only the primary colors—red, yellow, and blue pigment—to simplify the palette by mixing the desired colors and shades in lieu of buying endless tubes of paint. John teaches the Watercolor Equus in a barn with a live horse. Students watch the animal in motion as they paint the horse in its different moods.
Is John teaching a seminar or a workshop? Does the terminology even matter? I think it does. The word "workshop" should conjure images of play or involvement with the workshop material.
One definition of seminar is a group of advanced students working under a teacher in a specific subject of study. So, when teaching workshops for the general public, it's probably best to leave the seminar structure to university professors and design material that's not too narrow or specialized. Especially when first starting out, your workshop format should be accessible to beginners. Farnsworth's teaching style embraces a range of talents: from those just beginning to dabble in watercolor to those who've grown frustrated after becoming entrenched in a certain method or habit using watercolors.
A lecture may last for only an hour or two, whereas workshops can last for half a day to a weekend—and sometimes even a week. You'll get a feeling for how long yours should be once you've followed the steps laid out in this workshop tutorial.
As a workshop presenter, you can concentrate on being less of a talking head and more of a demonstrator. Develop plenty of exercises for your students, supply them with the materials they'll need to try it themselves, demonstrate how to do it, and then give them some space—a no-talk zone—and let them get their feet wet.
If your style really lends itself to more of a seminar or lecture format, you can still use many of the principles in this e-book to help you develop and promote your class. There's nothing inferior or superior about either style; it's simply a matter of what works best within your time restraints and with the learning materials, if any.
Phil Jones is an Australian musician who tours the USA presenting workshops on an ancient Aboriginal wind instrument: the didgeridoo. Phil provides each student with a didgeridoo and, during the course of an evening, gets everyone puffing and blowing and making music—a fine example of a hands-on workshop exercise.
Coming this year as an online course to replace the e-book
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“Budgeting Made Simple!”
An e-book by Milli Thornton
Featured on the “Books & Resources” page at
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County
“I hate budgeting! Budgeting really sucks. But so does spinning out of control with my finances. Arrgh! where on Earth do I start? Everything's a mess and I'm no good with numbers. . . . ”
If this sounds like you then a good place to start is with this handy e-book. The author used the methods described in the book to save enough money (as a single mom on a shoestring budget) to move from Australia to the USA in 1997.
Included also are actual case scenarios of successful refunds under duress, plus assertive debt management under fire. Eliminate your junk mail too!
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Table of Contents - BUDGETING MADE SIMPLE
— RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
— THE A-B-C's OF PERSONAL BUDGETING
— THE FULL [MONTY] BUDGET EQUATION
— SHOULD BANK ACCOUNTS HAVE SEX?
— HOW TO SET UP YOUR MB4-XP52 SYSTEM
— BALANCE TRANSFERS FOR LOWER INTEREST
— DEBT CONSOLIDATION IS FOR LOSERS?!
— JUNK MAIL: DON'T BE A PACIFIST!
— THE FINE ART OF GETTING A REFUND
— 7 SECRETS FOR HANDLING A “BLOW-OUT”
— WE ALL KNOW BULLIES LIKE TO BLUFF
— ARTICLES YOU SHOULD READ NEXT
— INDEX OF URLS USED IN THIS E-BOOK
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Excerpt from: BUDGETING MADE SIMPLE!
Copyright © 2003 Milli Thornton
RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
BEFORE WE DELVE into the simple mysteries of budgeting, let's get ourselves in the mood by saving some money. We are going to play a trick on Ye Olde New Year's custom; namely, making a resolution. Don't wait for December 31 to make yours.
For a short time only, be prepared to modify a habit or a hobby that you know is draining your finances. Make it something simple that you KNOW you can do, and then get organized before you start. So, what are the biggest stumbling blocks the average person self-inflicts when it comes to New Year's Resolutions?
1) Trying to change too many things about your life at once
2) Rushing into it with no preparation
3) Choosing a huge, 25-year-old vice to eradicate—instead of a small bad habit to modify (i.e. make one small, positive change “for now”)
For example, Pamela Lattébergen, 34, is addicted to expensive espresso. Every morning during her thirty-minute commute she stops at Holy Moly, It's Java Time!'s drive-through window, where she orders up a triple mocha-donut café latté brevé, “tall,” with macadamia-vanilla infusion and a cinnamon stick on the side.
This Hollywood dream product costs Pamela a fat $3.25 every morning.
“So what?” I hear you say. “Let the girl have her coffee in peace.”
But $3.25 multiplied by nine (yikes, Pamela consumes *two* on Saturdays and Sundays!) comes to a weekly total of $29.25. And that's not counting the bagel or fancy croissant she tells herself every morning she will resist, but never does. After all, this is breakfast and she needs something more than coffee to fill her belly.
When Pam took a straight look at her finances, she was shocked at how much she was forking over every week to the Holy Moly café. Her pal from yoga classes, Tabitha Tofu, helped her formulate a sensible plan of action.
Coming this year as an online course to replace the e-book
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“The Greatest Potatoes”
by Penelope Stowell
Feast your eyes on the world's most delectable disaster!
George Crum is the very best fry cook at Cary Moon's Lake Lodge Restaurant. When Cornelius Vanderbilt, the richest and most rancorous man in America, returns from France, everyone panics. Vanderbilt has been known to shut down restaurants that aren't up to his culinary standards.
But George Crum isn't moved, until . . . Vanderbilt repeatedly sends his potatoes back to the kitchen. And George decides that if Vanderbilt wants a bad potato, well, that's exactly what he's going to get! The result is the tastiest, most scrumptious, potato haute cuisine ever invented and a riotous picture book
Based on the true story of George Crum, an African American fry cook in 1853 at a restaurant in Saratoga, New York. Potato chip recipe included.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover children's book: 36 pages
Illustrator: Sharon Watts
Meet the author: Penelope Stowell
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“Stark Knight”
by J.R. Turner
“The Mexican desert is hot as hell . . . and things are only going to get worse.”
Knight Inc. has a new mission—find a medallion, stop a madman, and rescue the boss. That makes this one personal. When clues leading to the extravagant ballroom of the wickedly wealthy uncover a devious plot disguised by the flow of champagne and false charity, Stark and Knight dress to kill. Tempted by sultry Panama, they find bombs aren't the only thing igniting this dangerous paradise. But deep in the tomb of an underground lair, the risk will become deadly as they fight to save the world and the one man they call family.
Acquisition and recovery has never been so important.
Paperback: 236 pages
Genre: Action Adventure
Meet the author: J.R. Turner
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“Lessons In Stalking . . . Adjusting to Life With Cats”
by Dena Harris
If You Own A Cat You Must Own This Book—Dena Harris is known as “The Erma Bombeck of Cat Writers”
Cotton mice found doing the dead man’s float in the water dish . . . 5 AM wake-up calls . . . a “no-closed doors” policy . . . the cat declares a holy war when put on a diet. Lessons In Stalking hones in on the wildly different responses the author and her long-suffering spouse have to a life shared with cats.
In no other cat book will you find such riveting accounts as:
- The Great Cat Butt-Wiping Adventure
- Jingle Ball Horrors
- The Creature Under the Fridge
- Yoga Cat
Genre: Humor/gift book
Meet the author: Dena Harris
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