MONDAY MUSINGS—BLOGGER BEWARE!

   The internet can be a writer's boon...or bane. Today's Monday Musings will focus on the issue of re-posting copyrighted information. Unless you took the pictures yourself, or the photographs are very old—say from the 19th Century—assume they're copyrighted, otherwise it could get you into a lot of hot water as romance novelist Roni Loren found out the hard way. Read her blog post here and learn what you should and should not do when searching for and posting images from the internet.

May the Muse Be with You!

GET A SNEAK PREVIEW OF SACAJAWEA OF THE SHOSHONE—LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT

 
   Sacajawea of the Shoshone will be released in Oct. 2012. Click on the Books tab to hear an audio excerpt of the book!

WIN A TEN PAGE MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE!

   Announcing the Redwood Writer's Club Young Adult Fiction Writing Contest! We have fabulous judges and fabulous prizes, including a 10-page manuscript critique by agent extraordinaire Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. So, channel your inner teen and submit your best ten pages! To find out more about this contest and the Redwood Writer's Club, check out their website.

"FLAVOR OF THE MONTH", BRISBANE-BOUND!

      My ten-minute play "Flavor of the Month" (re-spelled "Flavour of the Month" for Aussie audiences) is in production in Brisbane, Australia for the Short+Sweet Ten-Minute Theatre Festival! It will be staged on Aug. 18, 7 pm., at The Loft in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, and performed by the Australian Actors' Network. 
   The Short+Sweet is an international theatre festival with 11 venues in places like Singapore, Auckland, Mumbai and various cities in Australia. One submission fee will enter your play in all of its festivals. There are several festivals still open for submissions including Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore, so dust off those ten-minute plays, and submit them here.

TRAVELING WITH MY MUSE

Channeling Sophia Loren

  I've had a three week hiatus from blogging while my family and I had a truly terrific vacation in Italy with my parents, brother and sister. We then flew to Ireland for my brother's wedding at an Irish castle in Waterford, south of Dublin. Needless to say, that means I didn't get much writing done either. But just because I didn't get much down on the computer or on paper, doesn't mean my muse was dormant. My travels around bucolic Tuscany with its vineyards, medieval walled cities set high on hillsides, and the hustle and bustle of busy Florence begs for a travel article to be written. My brother's wedding in an ultra-romantic setting on the grounds of a centuries-old castle could be a piece on romantic weddings or Irish weddings or a focused article on the location—Waterford castle. Inspiration is everywhere!

The streets of San Gimignano, Tuscany

The main piazza in Sienna

A well-made cappuccino

Jason and Sylvia's wedding at
Waterford Castle, Ireland