SOLACE in SO MANY WORDS - an anthology on what solace means and how to find it

Apr
25

ForeWord Reviews is pleased to announce the 2011 Book of the Year Awards list of finalists. Representing more than 700 publishers, the finalists were selected from 1200 entries in 60 genre categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its finest.

Solace in So Many Words is a finalist for the 2011 Book of the Year Awards in the anthology category.

ForeWord Reviews‘ Book of the Year Awards program was established to help publishers shine an additional spotlight on their best titles and bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors. Award winners are chosen by librarians and booksellers who are on the front lines, working everyday with patrons and customers.

Please keep your fingers (and toes) crossed for Solace in So Many Words — winners will be announced at the American Library Association Conference in Anaheim, Ca, June 23.

View the entire list of 2011 Book of the Year Finalists Awards.

Tags: American Library Association, Anthology, Book of the Year Award, Ellen Wade Beals, ForeWords Review, Poetry, Solace, Solace in So Many Words, Weighed Words

Apr
21

Friends in the cards

Blog

by Ellen Beals

I feel obligated to post since I haven’t done so in a week. I don’t have too much to report. Not a lot of writing news. Not a lot of Solace in So Many Words news. The week has escaped me and I haven’t gotten a lot accomplished. What has me excited is a poker game (nickel, dime, quarter) today with my grade-school friends. Two of the players (they are twins), I have known for almost all my life since our older sisters played together and would bring us along. We went to a parish grade school in the city along with the hostess of the game. The two other players at the table I haven’t known as long–maybe twenty five years or so.

I quickly looked around the web (BrainyQuotes in particular) to find a quote on friendship, and most of the poems and quotes are too corny. After all we’re going to play cards, and we don’t get all mushy at the poker table (well, at least not until the end of the night). So I will quote the words of Elbert Hubbard, a poet born in the early 1900s in Bloomgton, IL, when he said, “A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” And I will temper that sentiment with a little sharpness when I quote Oscar Wilde who said, “True friends stab you in the front.” Then I will round out the quotes with this addition by Mark Twain: “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

Today when we play poker, I know that no matter who takes the pot, I have been dealt a very good hand.

Hope you have fun with friends this weekend too.

Tags: Anthology, appreciation, Elbert Hubbard, Ellen Wade Beals, Friendship, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Poker, Poker Buddies, publication, Solace, Solace in So Many Words, Weighed Words

Apr
12

The Book Stall was swell

Blog

by Ellen Beals

Many thanks to The Book Stall for hosting our celebration of Poetry Month—to Roberta Rubin for inviting us to read and especially to Amy and Gordon who worked late to accommodate us. The Book Stall has been named Publishers Weekly Bookstore of the Year and it is obvious why. The Book Stall is supportive of readers and writers alike.

Our attentive audience -- thanks for listening!

Joan Corwin

We had a pretty large crowd and they were a very attentive audience. We changed up our usual reading event in that we also featured poems from Solace in So Many Words. Joan Corwin started us off with her condensed excerpt from “Details” and then she read two poems: “Nature’s Balancing Act” by S. Minanel and “They Call Me Grumpy” by Susan O’Donnell Mahan.

D. J. Lachance

D. J. Lachance read his short fiction “Nagasaki Shadows” and the poem “Fighting Inertia” by Susan O’Donnell Mahan.

Carol Kanter

Carol Kanter has three poems in SISMW but she read only two, “Her Best Medicine” and “The Advanced Course” as well as her daughter Jodi Kanter’s “High-End Grocery Solace” and Donna Hilbert’s “Flowers.”

Kathleene Donahoo

Kathleene Donahoo read the beginning paragraphs of ”Stops and Starts” and also Noel Sloboda’s poem “Backyard Burial.”

Pamela Miller

Pamela Miller read poems by Patti Wojcik Wahlberg (“Breathe”) and Elizabeth Kerlikowske (“The Industry of Sleep”) and her own poem “What It’s All About.”

J. Scott Smith read from her story “Heartbeat” and Constance Vogel Adamkiewicz’s “Library Tours Invites You to Spend A Day With Islam” and Patti Wojcik Wahlberg’s “Breathe.”