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Distant Relations: A Finn O’Brien Crime Thriller Reviewed by Veronica Jorge

August 22, 2022 by in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as , , , ,

DISTANT RELATIONS
A Finn O’Brien Crime Thriller
Book 5

REBECCA FORSTER

August 2022   

ASIN: BOB4194WX8

ISBN:  978-1005643881

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It started out as just another day. Finn O’Brien waited at the airport to greet his uncle. What he saw was the plane exploding, bursting into flames, and taking his uncle and the other passengers with him.

Fans of the Finn O’Brien series know that nothing’s ever ordinary in the life of this detective. Forced to kill a fellow officer who had been trying to kill him, he had been vilified in the press and ostracized by his peers. Personally, it gnawed at him that he had never been able to solve his younger brother’s murder. And his wife’s divorce still tortured him. A man of purpose and faith, he had endured it all, and then some.

Finding the airline uncooperative as he tries to get answers, and stonewalled by the investigative agents gets Finn’s Irish up. His gut tells him that this explosion was no accident. What are they trying to cover up?

With no help or back-up from his department, it’s up to Finn and his faithful partner Cori to follow the money trail and challenge the powers in charge in order to discover the truth and hopefully prevent more deaths.

Mystery, murder, danger, suspense, and a hint of romance, Distant Relations has it all. Readers of Finn O’Brien will fall in love with him all over again.

Veronica Jorge

See you next time on September 22nd!

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Neetu Malik: August Featured Author

August 21, 2022 by in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , ,
picture of Neetu Malik

Neetu Malik’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK,  NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology  and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).

Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.

Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA.


You can find Neetu’s poetry in these volumes.

Hover on the cover for buy links. Click on the cover for more information.


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Neetu Malik: August Featured Author

August 14, 2022 by in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , ,
picture of Neetu Malik

Neetu Malik’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK,  NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology  and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).

Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.

Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA.


You can find Neetu’s poetry in these volumes.

Hover on the cover for buy links. Click on the cover for more information.


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Putting Words to Paper by Ralph Hieb

August 13, 2022 by in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group

The reason I write is for my pleasure. The joy of putting thoughts from my head down on paper is thrilling, especially if it is in a story that is enjoyable.

I can take a scene of combatants and put that heat of battle into the mind of the reader. They can imagine every swing of a sword or the sudden blast as a gun spews its lethal venom at an adversary. When done right, you can smell the odor of spent powder. Maybe the fragrant scent of a flower as it sends out its invitation to a pollinating insect. The mind can smell what the mind imagines. A powerful tool for me to utilize.

The images that can be placed on a sheet of paper have no limits. I can find myself, in the form of my characters, sailing a ship on the high seas or flying through the depths of space. Sometimes being lowered by rope to explore uncharted caverns in the Earth’s crust. There are times I would think that the story is a memoir of times when I was existing in another realm.

There are scenes that can describe sweet flowers blooming in a meadow on a mountain, the warmth of the sun with its brightness making the world magical. Or the chill of wandering through a forest with tall trees, their branches blocking the sun from reaching the ground, the dampness of rotting vegetation seeping to the very bones of a person. These places are hard to find but easy to come across with a description from the vision in my mind.

You might think that these are strange thoughts coming from a person who generally writes paranormal. However, not all the tales I have written contain ghosts, vampires, werewolves, or the other creatures that might go bump in the night. Sometimes I do dream of having a log cabin in the mountains situated at the edge of a lake with good fishing. These dreams need to find a home on paper along with the Dennison’s of dark imagination.

There are also times I sit down to write, and the words or ideas refuse to come to the surface of my thoughts. These are times I write just to scribble. These are things that make no sense whatsoever. It is only to keep my fingers on the keyboard and stop me from checking my social media accounts, going through my e-mail, or browsing stories that the news media thinks are important. These are times when only playing on the keyboard will, hopefully, bring ideas forth.

So, there you have it. My thoughts on writing putting words or ideas down for not only myself to enjoy, but, I hope, for others to see the visions laid out on paper or electronic device for them to imagine along with me.

Ralph’s Books

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What’s All The Hype Over Keywords?

August 12, 2022 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , ,

We’ve all heard these statements: Use keywords in your blog posts. Up your SEO game with the right keywords. Keywords are the key. Keywords matter. So what is all the hype over keywords?

Hype Over Keywords Blog banner with words What's All the Hype Over Keywords by Denise M. Colby and other side with back side open laptop

Here’s a simple definition:

Keywords are used in digital marketing to describe a word or group of words someone types in a search engine/search bar to perform a search.

As writers we use that search bar all the time for our research.

And that’s how our readers use the search bar too.

So when we write a blog post – think what your reader would possibly type in their search bar to find what you are writing. And use your search bar to test the keywords you are selecting.

The hype over keywords is no joke

Have you ever searched for something and had to change the wording several times to finally get to what you were looking for? That’s the keyword organization going on. The search engines have specific formulas to organize and index everything on the internet. When someone performs a search, they want to find relevant content.  And why businesses in the SEO and search engine business hype the use of keywords all the time. And teach what they can on the subject. The better everyone uses keywords, the more organized internet content will be.

How do you write keywords?

Keywords are tricky. You can’t use the same ones twice. If you do, they sort of cancel each other out when being indexed. So, when you use only one word, it limits using that word ever again. So using two words and varying one of them for different scenarios would be a good strategy.

Another strategy is to not use words too broad or too narrow. Again, think about the terms you use when searching for similar topics. You want to land on the first page of the search. The more you research, you’ll start to see how to tweak and tailor your keywords to better fit.

Other tips for writing strong keywords

  • Make sure posts and pages are focused and related to only ONE main idea. When you figure out your keyword FIRST, you write your blog post differently.
  • Include your keywords in your title, first paragraph, a subhead or two, and the body text
  • Use other relatable words that support the main topic through the post/page
  • Include pictures that represent your keywords and add your keywords into the alt text
  • Keywords can be tied into your Category and Tag strategy as well, especially if it’s a topic you cover frequently
  • You could use your keyword phrase as your slug to keep things simple

Interested in learning more about SEO? Check out my Using a Blog SEO Checklist to Streamline Your Blog Post and/or sign up for my Marketing for Authors newsletter on my website.

SEO Keywords and Marketing for Authors Logo - Teal, black and white text with a light bulb and MfA over it. By Denise M. Colby

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