Why WRITERS Should Listen to AUDIOBOOKS

DID YOU KNOW AUDIOBOOKS CAN IMPROVE YOUR WRITING?

A) NO SKIMMING ALLOWED


     C'mon, admit it: you skim over the "boring parts" as you read print.  It's instinctive by now.

     But skimming robs you of the power and purpose of the words you skim!


B) AUDIO LETS YOU CATCH THE PACE, THE FLOW OF THE WORDS


     The sounds of the words will bleed into your own writing.  You will begin to "see" words as images.

     It will limit your use of HE SAID/SHE SAID in every line of dialogue.

     Don't tell me those words are invisible to readers -- only to you as you block them out as you write.

     You'll discover new ways to add pauses to the spoken lines.


C)  YOU'LL HEAR THE WORDS AS YOU WRITE THEM


     Maybe in your voice.  Maybe in the voice of your favorite narrators.

     It will spotlight "kinks" in your paragraphs.

     The audio's will create a Theater of the Mind letting you see words as images.


D) YOU'LL "READ" MORE


     Stephen King stresses that the more you read the deeper your perspective will be in your books.

     You'll read in places you couldn't with a print book: in bed, exercising, gardening, commuting.

     You'll discover favorite narrators and seek out books they narrate no matter the genre and 

your literary horizons will expand, enriching your prose, breathing new ides into your future novels.


E) YOU'LL LEARN


     AUDIBLE has its DEAL OF THE DAY:

     I got Arthur C Clarke's 2001 for $2!  The intro was by Clarke himself, detailing the unique way he wrote the book.

     I got BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S read by Michael C Hall of DEXTER fame (great narrator) for $2!

     Craig Johnson of LONGMIRE fame detailed at the end of one of his books the origin of his hero and how he writes.  Great lessons.


F) YOUR OWN AUTHOR READINGS WILL IMPROVE FROM LISTENING TO PROFESSIONALS.


G) YOUR VOCABULARY WILL IMPROVE

     You'll learn new words from their use in context of the action of the novels.  

     You'll repeat crutch words less as you insert the new words into your prose.

OH, BEFORE I FORGET WHY ALL THIS TALK ON AUDIOBOOKS!

I'VE GOT A NEW, AFFORDABLE ONE!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Call-Me-Tombs-Audiobook/B00NFS8NV2/

ONLY $3.95!

Voodoo in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania?

 A mystic travel trailer that has a life of its own and takes its name too seriously?

 A deadly, unbeatable worker of dark magic out to unravel the fabric of reality? 

A Hellhound named Puppy? 

All in a normal day for the last Lakota Heyoka, Toomey Starks.

Since Toomey is Lakota

here is John Two Hawks with lyrics

THE LAST HEYOKA in CALL ME TOMBS

My book page for CALL ME TOMBS has been re-done.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006NLANN4

Do you like it? Tell me what you think. And I will not be adverse to your gambling 99 cents on it! :-)

You'll get on the good side of Puppy .. which is always a safe place to be!

(Tombs and Puppy help save the world in END OF DAYS, too!
http://www.amazon.com/END-OF-DAYS-ebook/dp/B0082ZJD08/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4 )

CALL ME TOMBS


Voodoo in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania?

A mystic travel trailer that has a life of its own and takes its name too seriously?

A deadly, unbeatable worker of dark magic out to unravel the fabric of reality?

A Hellhound named Puppy?


All in a normal day for the last Lakota Heyoka,
Toomey Starks.


Accompanied by Puppy and a fiery, homicidal gypsy,

the Lakota Trickster snatches magic from the air and love from the shadows

to discover his destiny, save the world,

and survive the "help" of the Spirit of the Earth!


Just a normal day for the last Heyoka, Toomey Starks!

(THE RIVAL has hit #11 in Amazon's best-selling Zombie Love list. I didn't know there was such a list!)

For those of you who want to know what a Lakota Heyoka is:

T is for Toomey_Call Me Tombs

http://www.amazon.com/CALL-ME-TOMBS-ebook/dp/B006NLANN4Between

Between Toomey and Starks, they found me at the crossroads.

If you’re Lakota like me, you know that makes me cursed. The orphanage named me Toomey Starks. Call me Tombs.

Please not Toomer. Makes me sound like an unsightly growth.

Behind me, Puppy chuffs at my expense. It is not the first time. And yes, he is the curse.

But he makes for great support as I lean against his broad back and soak in the warm rays on the beach.

Puppy is somewhat larger than a Shetland Pony and only slightly smaller than a Sherman tank.

And he smells like Hell.

Literally.

Puppy chuffs his “What did you expect of a Hellhound?” chuff.

The morning air tastes of salt. The seagull glides gracefully above me. The wind tickles my scalp as it ruffles my hair. The seagull spots Puppy.

CAAAW! Splat! On my forehead!

Seagull shit is warm, gooey, smelly, thick, and damn hard to scoop off.

Puppy chuffs “Good Shot” to the seagull as its wings blur in its frenzied effort to go into warp speed.

Puppy could turn a wet dream of Megan Fox into a nightmare.

I perk up. Speaking of Megan Fox, two honey bunnies, wearing smiles, suntan lotion, and not much else are slowly swaying my way. I hear them laugh emptily to each other in Clueless-ese.

Blather. Calories. Wastopaneer. Blather. Synatec Tacise Diet. Blather.

I don’t mind. It’s not their intellects I’m interested in. Puppy chuffs “Big Surprise There”.

He turns to smile wide at them. They shriek and fall limp to the sands. I look for pulses. None. I glare at Puppy.

“I don’t mind you scaring beautiful girls half to death. I can comfort those. But did you have to scare these two TO DEATH?”

Puppy chuffs “Hellhounds don’t do sandcastles.”
***

BEST OF ENEMIES_The End of All Things dawns in June

Victor Standish is dead.

{See the end of THE RIVAL}

http://www.amazon.com/THE-RIVAL-chapter-STANDISH-ebook/dp/B007JOUJ60

Hurricane Katrina has devastated New Orleans. The preternaturals are coming out to hunt. The only functioning high school is operated by the Tuatha de Danann poised to invade the world of mortals.

Revenants from Europe are inflitrating New Orleans. Ningyo's are prying open the portal to the Nameless Ones to return home. The last of the Olympians gather in the shadows of a ruined French Quarter to prey on the fallen.

Each faction feels on the brink of triumph.

But they are all of them deceived.

Something has escaped its bonds. Something much older than Earth. Terror is its diet. And now, no one is safe.

Who stands in the breech now? A shattered Alice Wentworth. The two girls who betrayed Victor to his death. An emotionally gutted Samuel McCord.

Enter Estanatlehi, The Turquoise Woman, and her three grandsons:

Wolf Howl, Toomy Starks, and the philosopher/mage, Hibbs, the bear with two shadows.

The End of All Things has dawned.

{Look for it this June}
***

CALL ME TOMBS

100% of this book's profits go to the Salvation Army.

Voodoo in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania?

A mystic travel trailer that has a life of its own and takes its name too seriously?

A deadly, unbeatable worker of dark magic out to unravel the fabric of reality?

A Hellhound named Puppy?

All in a normal day for the last Lakota Heyoka, Toomey Starks.

Accompanied by Puppy and a fiery, homicidal gypsy,

the Lakota Trickster snatches magic from the air and love from the shadows to

discover his destiny,

save the world,

and survive the "help" of the Spirit of the Earth --

Like I said : just a normal day for the last Heyoka.

It's only 99 cents and the profits go to The Salvation Army. Give it a try why don't you?
***