I’m so excited to reveal the cover to the third installment in Claire M. Banschbach’s MG/YA fantasy trilogy called Winter Spell. First, here are books One and Two:

And without further ado, here is book three!

What’s it all about?

A half-breed faery. A war-weary princess. A quest to free three kingdoms from the deadly winter spell. 

Constantly doubted by her ocean faery kindred, Tonya Freyr-dottir only wants to untangle the dormant ice and water magic within her. Then a strange attack makes her unleash a fierce winter on the land and sea. And she has no idea how to stop it.

Princess…

I’m so thrilled that I was welcomed as a guest on the QWERTY Writing Life podcast, hosted by authors Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith. On this episode of their podcast for creatives we talked about finding creative balance and had a fun, candid talk about balancing creative pursuits with other work and parts of our lives.

We discussed what it looks like to balance creative pursuits and how to let creativity flow into other parts of our lives in positive ways. I discuss how I use my creative and artistic talents to help other writers as a business and what led me to incorporate that into my life.

As a bonus for National Poetry Month, a young poet also made an appearance on the podcast to talk about her own creative journey and publishing her first book of poetry.

QWERTY Writing Life Podcast can be found on:

• Apple iTunes

The first International Day of Happiness was observed on March 20, 2013. The United Nations has declared March 20 as International Day of Happiness on the initiative of the South Asian country, Bhutan.

As well as Bhutan is the only country that calculates the level of happiness for its GDP growth should also serve as a role model for not only neighboring SAARC countries but other parts of the world.

This Intl Happiness Day focuses on bringing peace and harmony among all people, communities and promotes positive thinking and actions that can make our world a happier place.

It is believed that March 20 has been chosen for the International Day of Happiness because of March equinox. It is a universal phenomenon for humankind. March equinox appears at the time when Earth’s equator passes through the center of Sun’s disk.

This year’s challenge has been dedicated to defeating COVID-19 and…

I’m reading a printed book after weeks of reading ebooks with the Kindle app on my tablet.

Switching to print has been such a relief! I don’t have to turn the tablet back on if I’ve happened to leave it for a few minutes, or dart back to flip the page back to prevent the device shutting off while I’m making that sandwich. I don’t have to check the battery level or remember to plug it in.

Ebooks are compact and convenient, no question about that, but print books provide a less demanding reading experience. Open or closed, they sit there obligingly, waiting to be read. Several times since I switched back to print, I’ve returned to the book after getting a cup of coffee and experienced a pleasant surprise when I realized I didn’t have to turn on the reading device and key in a password in order to…

How to Print your Novel with Kindle Direct Publishing

Introduction – is this guide right for you?

Frequently Asked Questions

Part I – How to Prepare your Novel

Trim Size, Bleed, and Page Specification

Designing the interior format of your book

Front Matter, Back Matter & ISBNs

Creating a Table of Contents [TOC]

Section Breaks

Page Numbers

Exporting your document to PDF

Preparing the Cover of your Book

Part II – How to Setup your Novel

Getting Started with KDP

Paperback Details

Paperback Content

Using Cover Creator [optional]

Reviewing your Book and Cover

Paperback Rights & Pricing

Part III – for Australian Self-Publishers

30% Withholding Tax

ISBN in Australia

Legal Deposit, Australia

Miscellaneous

Creating a free barcode

Extra help for graphics heavy books like memoirs and cookbooks, etc

Word 16 image compression, image resolution and Wrap Text settings

Editing images in Word 16

Adding captions to images in Word 16

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 517https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides
Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a haunted poem.

When I look in the mirror 
I see nothing. 
I wander the halls of my home 
waiting for her to come back. 
She left abruptly 
without any notice. 
She has not come back yet 
and does not try to reach me. 
I will wait for her 
for I know someday she will look for me. 
The rooms are quiet 
yet her belongings are still here. 
Soon, I know, she will come. 
Soon, I know, we will be together again.  

©2020 CBialczak

Three clicks (Your Site/WP Admin/Comments) in spam may find me?

#

Now and then a comment made

no sight upon beguiling page

not read not moderated yet

WordPress displacement more likely bet

with you in words and thought assured

In spam maybe please look?

(first posted 11th August 2019)

#

Daily routine

checking admin

comments, spam

three clicks

getting better

less of your words

now where should be

upfront on posts

where can be seen

if you’ve lost me

bemused no comment

three clicks

may find me?

(first posted 6th December 2019 and re-blogged 20th January 2020)

The UN celebrates annually 20 February as World Day of Social Justice (Social Justice Equality Day) an international day that recognizes the need to promote social justice. 

It also promotes and strengthens efforts for tackling issues of poverty, exclusion, gender equality, unemployment, human rights, and social protections. 

Its vital for any healthy society that can provide equal rights to its citizens because that’s the only way societies and nations flourish without any discrimination under peaceful circumstances.

2020 Theme: “Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”

The mission of social justice and equity cannot be achieved without the presence of human rights workers, defenders, activists, writers, common people, youth and others that continue to battle on the front lines, in their communities and through open spaces despite the risks involved.

This post is dedicated to all such courageous heroes of 2019 that lost their lives in the fight for human rights.

Front…