Accidentally Yours Anthology

One of my goals for the year was to bring out an anthology of my varied short writings-- stories, essays and poems. However, the amount of effort required to finish North Country Quest has put all of my other goals into a tail spin.

Getting a collection of my short works together really doesn't require a lot of effort. Everything is written. Some final editing is needed, compiling things and maybe adding a little text about some of the stories, but most of the work is simply formatting the book.

So, this week, I got my act together and tried to come up with a title for the book. I read some articles about how long an anthology should be. While researching that, I learned that anthologies are often given the same title as the lead story.

I'm not usually one to ask what other people think about titles and cover art. In this case, it's probably a good thing I did. I came up with six possible titles, and my first choice only got one other vote, from an engineering friend.

The overwhelming choice of the people who participated was Accidentally Yours, which is also the first story. I'd really like to have this title and cover be appealing enough to attract people to buy it, so I'm taking the advice I've received.

One person said, "Accidentally Yours reflects a mystery of a first encounter." That said a lot to me. The collection will be eclectic, to say the least. Themes are all over the map-- very much like my brain. That first story is set on the frozen North Sea, so I went looking for a royalty-free photo I could use and put together a possible cover. What you see above is only tweaked a bit from that first effort. I like it! Others seem to like it!

This could be a winner. One author friend of mine says her short story collection is her best selling book. Maybe I can have this ready to go in a month... in time for Christmas. That's not out of the question, without taking away from the time I'm working on North Country Quest.

So far, it includes flash fiction, literary fiction, entertaining short stories, essays, and quite a few poems. The list includes, at this point, nine stories, five essays, 14 poems and a few two-sentence stories. I'm aiming for about 200 pages. Formatting has begun.

If you helped in the title decision, thank you!

Short and Fun Stories released

Edited by Dorothy Mae Mercer, this collection of short stories and excerpts by 14 authors can give you a taste of many different works and styles.

The book, Short and Fun Stories, is designed to be a teaser to draw people in to ordering additional titles by these writers.

My award winning story, "The Case of the Cautious Couple," appears in this anthology. It's a spoof of the Perry Mason mysteries, which I love. However, they were very formulaic, and therefor easy to copy stylistically. I think you'll find the twist at the end enjoyable.

The volume contains romance, politics, mystery, historical fiction, one children's story, folklore, a memoir, and more.

It can be pre-ordered now for delivery on May 6, or at any time thereafter for $1.99. You'll get over 50K words of stories for two bucks! What are you waiting for?

Order at Amazon- Short and Fun Stories

Elements of Life Kindle Version Available

Elements of Life is now available in digital form from Amazon. The paperback copy should also be ready for sale in just a few days.

I have one poem in this anthology, "Now Then When." It's from the darker side of my nature, but just as real as more upbeat writings.

There are interesting short stories and more poems in Elements of Life. This book is not really literary fiction, rather, the stories are written for enjoyment.

Kindle

Paperback

Contract for Elements of Life

Just returned the contract for Elements of Life. This is an anthology of short stories and poems from Twin Trinity Media. There have been some bumps along the way, but now there is good hope it will be available really soon.

I have one poem in this book, called "Now Then When." That isn't very much, to be sure, but it puts us one step closer to the next book in the series which will have one story and one poem of mine.

The e-version of Elements of Life should be available very soon, perhaps even this week yet. The print version will appear about a week later.

Despite such a small contribution, I'm excited by this, because it is one more little thing I've had published that isn't self-publication.

Find Elements of Life at Twin Trinity Books and Amazon.

Received the Proof for Elements of Life

I just received a proof sheet for the Elements of Life anthology. I have one poem in this book! These are stories and poems that were winners in Accentuate Services contests. Some of my stories have been winners, but these themes, birth, life, death, were just before I began entering.

However, after the fact, they called for some poems to be used as fillers, and one of mine was accepted. It's called "Now Then When" and was written in one of my darker moods.

It takes a long, long time to get stories from contests to/through editing, and actual printing of a book. I'm glad to see something of mine in this anthology, and I will have several stories in the next volume.

The book can be pre-ordered for a discount at Twin Trinity Books

Fall Off the Couch Laughing is Published

Fall Off the Couch Laughing is a collection of ten humorous essays written over the last several years. Most previously appeared in the Ludington Daily News in my monthly column "Get Off the Couch." One essay has never been published prior to this collection.

Titles included are:
• Do Ticks Go to Heaven?
• The Top Ten Reasons to Stay On the Couch
• sKumquats and InYourFace vs My www
• Snowshoes? Just Give Me a Couple of Months
• The Arrival of Unwanted Body Parts
• Neologism Snowclone - Ramblings of a Cold Brain
• Not Sleeping at Sleeping Bear
• The Evolution of the Sock
• Not Men of the Liberated Mind Set
• The Hike from Heaven or Hell- You’re Invited

Although eBooks aren't generally a great venue for picture books, these essay collections include photographs. This book features ten carefully selected pictures.

My monthly column has been running for six full years, totaling more than 70 installments. I'm slowing collecting them into sets with similar themes. Columns are not available online unless you have an e-subscription to the newspaper. These collections are economical, and gathered into topical groups.

Only $1.89. Only on Smashwords.

Fall Off the Couch Laughing
Get Off the Couch with Joan