Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

I don’t want leave these characters yet… November 8, 2012

Filed under: Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:57 pm
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Page after page I let the spell of the story and its world take me over, until the breath of dawn touched my window and my tired eyes slid over the last page.  I lay in the bluish half-light with the book on my chest and listened to the murmur of the sleeping city.  My eyes began to close, but I resisted.  I did not want to lose the story’s spell or bid farewell to its characters yet.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s Shadow of the Wind p. 15

This is true about really great books that we read, but also in writing them.  Which is good, actually, because if you don’t want to leave them, you keep writing.  It keeps you motivated.  Of course, it might mean you write forever and never finish as well…

NaNoWriMo day 8: 686    (Total: 11,288 )

 

book spirits September 28, 2012

Filed under: Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:01 pm
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Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul.  The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it.  Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s Shadow of the Wind. p. 13

 

Reviewing Playing with Matches July 17, 2012

Filed under: book reviews — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:50 pm
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Playing with Matches by Brian KatcherPlaying with Matches by Brian Katcher

Another winner by author Brian Katcher, whose male narrators ring so true.  Katcher has dealt with the complexities of relationships as he examines lust and friendship amid dreams and realities.  In this book, while lusting over the cheer-leader he’s adored since elementary, the main character makes friends with the burn victim who has been the butt of jokes and ignored for years.  Of course, just when their relationship amps up, the cheerleader takes an interest at last.  Confusion, hurt, and angst are common ingredients in fiction for teens, just as it is in their real lives.  Katcher handles it all expertly, revealing the sad truth that there are no easy solutions.

It occurs to me, that aside from Diana Gabaldon, I haven’t been this impressed with an author in a long time.  I think I should get in touch with Katcher and see if we can arrange an interview for this blog.  I want to know more about him.

Hey Brian, if you see this, send me a note on shawn (dot) bird (at) ymail (dot) com and let’s set something up!  🙂

 

Review- Lost in Spaaaaaaain July 11, 2012

Filed under: book reviews — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:52 am
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Lost in Spain.

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LOST IN SPAIN by John Wilson

Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2000.  174 p.

YA historical novel

It is a fast read, so it’s not deep, but it did give me a real sense of the Spanish Civil War that fit with what I experienced and heard when I was in Spain earlier this year. Lots of action to keep you flipping pages. I was stunned when I started reading and discovered the book opened in my small BC town! Not what you expect about a book set in Spain, you can imagine. I was irritated by how Ted refers to his father as Will throughout the book. Why doesn’t he call him dad? or father? It’s so strange, it seemed there should be a reason for it. He calls his mother, Mom, after all. An interesting read that seemed to give a good glimpse at the character of the country and the context for the history.
 

Mind. Blown. June 4, 2012

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 8:09 pm
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In this age of instant everything, e-books are growing in popularity because they can be ordered instantly to your reader.  What if you want a paperback book, though?  Well, instant gratification exists for you, too.  Once, you had to order the book, which the Print on Demand service would quickly print and pop into the mail for you.  It’d arrive within a few days, saving significantly on storage costs, etc.  But three days isn’t exactly instant enough.

Enter the Espresso Book Machine coming soon to a book store, café,or laundromat near you!  Choose a book from the hundreds (thousands? millions?) stored in the data-base, from self-published books and public domain classics, to those from future looking publishers, push a button, and voilá, instant paperback book.  Your book, printed to order, in minutes.

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How?  Well, prepare to be amazed!  Check out this video:

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smashing deal! May 28, 2012

Filed under: Poetry,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:41 am
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For part of my workshop on e-publishing yesterday, I thought I’d better experience what it’s like to work with smashwords.com.  At 11:30 p.m. last Thursday night I pulled together my haiku collection, figured that the poems theme either around the seasons or love, put them all other, made a book cover, and published them at 1:00 a.m.

What that says is, “It’s really easy to publish using Smashwords.”

That said, I didn’t like the format it spat out, and re-loaded the file a couple of times until I got it to my satisfaction, but that was simple too.

This is my latest book, “A Year in Love.”  If you’d like a copy, I’ve made it free with this coupon code until the end of June: QK59P

 

Writers Wanted! May 23, 2012

Filed under: Rotary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:41 am
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The Rotary Club of Salmon Arm (Shuswap)  a.k.a. Shuswap Rotary Club has an awesome fund raiser that we’d love you to be part of!

We are searching for writers of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction (plus photographers) to submit their work for an opportunity to be published in an anthology called On the Shores of Shuswap Lake.  The work must relate to life in the Shuswap, and fit within the length criteria, otherwise, you’re free to explore all options!  The deadline for submissions is July 31st.

You grant non-exclusive rights to Shuswap Rotary to publish your work in the anthology.  Non-exclusive means that as far as Shuswap Rotary is concerned, you’re welcome to offer the piece to any other publication or contest, even if it’s accepted for the anthology.  An entry fee of $10 must accompany your work, and is considered a donation to Rotary, to support our community and international projects.

What would you like to write about? 

Your first houseboating trip?  An interesting wild flower?  Geographical strata?  Your grandmother?  An adventure at your summer cabin?  The time you nearly drowned in Shuswap Lake?  Watching the salmon run at Adams River?

Deadline is July 31st, 2012.  We’re looking forward to hearing  from you!

Here’s the official info and fine print:

HandbillOntheShoresShuswapLake

What are those community and international projects undertaken by Shuswap Rotary?  Here are a few:

Blackburn Park universal access playground, Victim Services, Air Force Cadets, Women’s Shelter, R. J. Haney House Museum, Salmon Arm Fall Fair, Sheltered Workshop, Barani Kenya Lunch Program, Fathers’ Day Fishing Derby, Guatemala Midwives, Music Festival, Ecuador Dental Mission,  Gamma Probe for Salmon Arm Hospital, Highway clean ups, Trail maintenance…

 

hourglass September 25, 2011

Filed under: book reviews,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 5:27 pm
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I belong to a YA reading group on Goodreads.com that had Hourglass by  Myra McEntire as its monthly book in August.  I really enjoyed this story of a teen who is fresh out of the psych hospital for hallucinating.  She wasn’t hallucinating though, she was seeing through time bubbles.  I love Emerson the protagonist- she’s sarcastic, feisty, and tortured.  I enjoyed the time travelling component that came up toward the end of the book.

The characters in this book were well crafted and became very real for me. In fact, they became so real that as I read Hourglass, I had a new experience. I kept hearing echoes of my own characters, and I kept thinking how well Grace and Ben would love to hang out with Emerson and Michael. I could see them all taking on the bad dudes together. How cool would it be for Emerson and Michael to go back and visit Grace and Ben in one of their past lives? (There’s a project for some fan-fic writer).

I had never had that experience before, and it was quite fascinating.  Emerson is tougher than Grace, but she shares the same bent for sarcasm and healthy doubt about the male in her world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Very entertaining read, Myra McEntire! Thanks a lot!