Summer .......

The scattered shades of pink throughout my garden make me smile.  A summer garden is quite an undemanding guest requiring only a little love and attention though, no doubt, in need of lots of cool drinks.   Today it is 37 degrees C. on the back deck; a good day to stay indoors some might suggest.  I thank God for the roof over my front verandah that affords us some cooling shade even on the most hot and humid of days.

Apart from my entries into Wynterblue WynLit monthly writing competitions I've been doing little creative writing this summer.  I promise myself I will get very busy and focused on "Ellen and the Hummingtree"  once the Elliot Lake Writers' Fall Festival is successfully behind us.  

I very much look forward to my first collaboration with Susan Krupp, Yuneekpix.com .  Susan will be illustrating "Ellen".  We anticipate this book launch will be taking place early winter of 2012.

Maggie Kirton, Executive Director of Wynterblue Publishing Canada, has been generous in her opinions about certain of my short story entries.  For example, about the last entry titled The Second Self , Mags wrote,  

"I just read your story. I don’t know where this came from, Audrey, but I have yet to read a more well written, empathetic and insightful piece of work about child abuse. Leave this one with me,,, I’m going to see if I can find a home for it.Gongrats on this one."

Thank you, Mags.

 I confess the novel is my passion but I do enjoy writing short stories; particularly short stories about certain social issues.   No doubt this is because of my background as a psychotherapist but writing about such topics as child abuse is tough.  Knowing where to draw the line between authentic reality of a situation and the sensitivities of the story's reader....to steal a few words from favourite author Rohinton Mistry,  requires "a fine balance".

Maybe you like reading short stories?

If so, perhaps I can interest you in buying a copy of my first short story anthology titled The Silent Star plus a Dozen.  

I have several copies on hand.  I'm just an email away and I welcome your order.

Short stories are ideal for summer reading.

Throughout these hot days, easy does it, and stay cool. 

Cover design by Susan Krupp, Yuneekpix.com

Book Cover Artist, Susan Krupp

Never Judge a Book by its Cover?
  .......an article by Susan Krupp

This may be a wise saying but in a practical sense it’s completely false.  We judge a book by it’s cover every single time we shop for one.  The art generates the first impression .  In fact, it’s the only certain page that everyone will see.  The cover of a  thriller should leave a potential reader with a sense of “!”.  A  mystery cover should leave a reader with a sense of “?”. 

 'A picture is worth a thousand words' is another common phrase.  The art must compel us, intrigue us, inspire us to open the book and visit the world inside.  A good cover will immediately immerse the reader.  The cover is the only visualization the reader will have before all visualizations become internal.  A good cover becomes a story unto itself.

Susan Krupp, an award winner from Ontario, Canada is the kind of imaginative designer of illustrative book covers that can, with an almost uncanny ability read an author's intent without having read the story.  She weaves the essence of  characters onto covers giving the story a believable reference that both catches the eye and stimulates the urge to pick the book up.

A good cover is essential in todays book market.   

Never judge a book by its cover?  A picture is worth a thousand words?  A good designer must marry the two.

Susan Krupp freelances and is available for new projects.  More of her work can be viewed at http://yuneekpix.com/

   

   

Elliot Lake Writers' Fall Festival ........

 

Elliot Lake Writers'  Fall Festival takes place October 22, 2011 at the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre in Elliot Lake.  This event will offer a morning workshop from 9 a.m. to noon, titled Memoir Writing with instructor Dr. Ross Pennie, award winning medical mystery novelist, professor at McMaster University,  and medical doctor from Hamilton, Ontario.

An afternoon workshop from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., titled How to Get Published will be presented by instructor Brian Henry who teaches at Ryerson University and George Brown College in Toronto. 

Each three hour workshop is being presented for the low cost of $25. Tickets are available now.  Just email me for tickets.

The launch of Penpourri, Elliot Lake Writers' Anthology of Stories and Poems will take place the day of the Festival and will be part of the Book Fair which is drawing authors from Toronto, Manitoulin Island, Blind River, Sault Ste Marie, as well as Elliot Lake.  Here is a great opportunity to meet and speak with the authors  who will be available for book signings.

The Podium Presentations are free to the public and will be provided throughout the day by authors from Toronto, Cobalt, North Bay, Manitoulin, Webbwood, and Blind River as well as from Elliot Lake.   This is a wonderful opportunity to meet the authors who will be reading from their works.

There will be in-place writing competitions with prizes for adults and children.  There will also be free entertainment for all throughout the day by pianists, Ken Little, Denis Morel and Mime Artist, Fran Perkins.

Members of Elliot Lake Writers'  Workshop are thankful to our Festival Sponsors.  Hope to see you there October 22nd from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre.

The day filled with activities will be  followed by a Gala Dinner at The Renaissance Centre, Elliot Lake with after dinner guest speaker, Dr. Ross Pennie.  Dinner tickets are $20 each and are available now.  Just email me for your three course chicken dinner tickets.

For Workshop and Dinner Tickets or for further information about the Festival's exciting events  please email me.

J. Breen Coffee; The Algo Mall; Viking Fish & Chips

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS .... OCTOBER 22ND, 2011 .... A DAY TO REMEMBER!

Wondrous Wildness -- my summer garden

WONDROUS WILDNESS

 I’ m in my summer garden

To clear a path that feet may trod

Amidst the pink, the red, the green

Untidy glorious touch of God.

Cascading pinks of huge Spirea

I chop and throw away

Revealing concrete underfoot

Where  flowers had blocked the way.

Wondrous wildness overflows,

Beauty spills o’er unkempt garden,

Shears in hand I prune and cut,

Then feeling shame, I beg God’s pardon.

a poem by Audrey Austin ...

Are we ready for these changes?

I received the following email from a friend this morning.

"Nine Things That Will Probably Disappear In Our Lifetime...

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them.                                                                          But, ready or not, here they come 1. The  Post Office.  Get ready to imagine a world without the post office.  They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term.  Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive.  Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.  2. The Cheque.   Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018.  It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks.  Plastic cards and  online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check.  This plays right into the death of the post office.  If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business. 3. The  Newspaper.  The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper.  They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition.  That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man.  As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it.  The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance.  They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services. 4. The Book.  You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages.  I said the same thing about downloading music fromiTunes.  I wanted my hard copy CD.  But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music.  The same thing will happen with books.  You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.  And the price is less than half that of a real book.  And think of the  convenience!  Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book. 5. The Land Line Telephone.  Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore.  Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.  But you are paying double charges for that extra  service.  All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes 6. Music.  This is one of the saddest parts of the change story.  The music industry is dying a slow death.  Not just because of illegal downloading.  It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it.  Greed and  corruption is the problem.  The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing.  Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with.  Older established artists.  This is also true on the live concert circuit.  To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book,  "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies.."  7. Television.  Revenues to the networks are down dramatically.  Not just because of the economy.  People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.  And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV.  Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.  Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.  I say good riddance to most of it.  It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery..  Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.  8. The "Things" That You Own.  Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future.  They may simply reside in "the cloud."  Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents.  Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be.  But all of that is changing.  Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services."  That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system.  So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet.  If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud.  If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud.  And you may pay a monthly  subscription fee to the cloud provider.  In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld  device.  That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?"  Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical?  It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.  9. Privacy.  If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone.  It's been gone for a long time anyway.  There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone.  But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View.  If you buy something, your habit is put into a  zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits.  And "They" will try to get you to buy something else.  Again and again.  All we will have that can't be changed are Memories.  In my case, even these are fading. Oh by the way......................HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!" And for those of you who still choose to hold a book in your hand, copies of  Sara, a Canadian Saga; Reawakening; and The Silent Star plus a Dozen are still available. And for those of you who do not, then you will be pleased to know that Sara, a Canadian Saga is now available as an E-book published by Wynterblue Publishing Canada and available through Amazon.com No doubt future books by yours truly will be a part of our ever-changing world.

Elliot Lake Writers' Fall Festival ........

Wake up call ............

This week a dear man died; a good man who loved his wife and his family.  He was active in his community and in his church; always there to lend a helping hand. 

He will be missed by many.  I will miss him.

His death is kind of like a wake up call; a reminder of the importance of staying in the moment;  treasuring each day as it is given and  looking within for that elusive peace that passeth understanding.

I am thinking of his family. I wish them love and the needed strength to get through this difficult time. 

Congrats to local author, Patricia Lee .....

Currently there is a contest on CBC called the Summer Writing Challenge. People write in saying what place has inpacted/inspired their writing. Yesterday they selected my entry. Check it out here and leave a comment if you like: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/litera​ryawards/2011/07/where-do-you-​write-todays-pick---patricia-l​ee.html

CBC Radio | Literary Awards | News

http://www.cbc.ca/

The CBC Literary Awards are Canada's only literary competition for English- and French-language, unpublished works.

 

It is indeed a beautiful spot!  Congratulations, Patricia :-)

Congratulations to local artist, Susan Krupp, runner up in Worldwide Photography Portraits & People Competition

The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards

Announcements/ Press Release

2nd Edition of the

Portraits & People Contest

Greetings!

Antonio Faccilongo, from Italy, won the First Prize in the Second Edition of the Portraits & People Contest organized by The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, juried by the WPGA's Editorial Team and Julio Hardy.

Fran Forman, from USA, was awarded with the Second prize.  Runners up were the artists Dorothee Rapp (Germany); Gavor Dvornik (Hungary); Jacquline Roberst (USA); M. Istvan Kerekes (Hungary); Magdalena Waslczek (Poland); Novik 74 (Russia); Probal Rashid (Bangladesh); Reuben Njaa (USA); Virginia Saunders (USA); Susan Krupp (Canada); and Vahid Ghasemi Zarnoosheh (Iran).

8240 images were received from 70 countries. 628 images passed the first screening and were entered into the second screening.  274 images of 212 artists were selected to be featured in the Book Portraits and People 2011 - 2nd Edition.

WPGA Congratulates all contestants and awardees.

Congratulations, Susan!  Well done!

Fretta and Thin

An odd little book...

Well, It's done!   Watch for Fretta and Thin

Fretta and Thin has been resurrected.  After years in hiding this manuscript, written in the early 80's, resurfaced and its author, Susan Krupp, has made it available for sale.

It's an odd story that was written while traveling across Canada.  Its attention focuses on two emerging artists in the Toronto Queen Street West area, which at that time was the hub of the city's creative clump of misfits and genius'.. The characters live, love, go mad, and eventually explode in self destruction...all for the sake of ART.

Resurrecting Fretta and Thin was a bit of a painstaking process.  I had to scan every page and do some fine editing.  It's not your normal read..it's completely handwritten and is full of illustrations and comment inserts.  What makes it especially odd is that It comes with a magnifier..you may need it.  Some sections have literally dissolved and  it is a challenge in spots to decipher.  This makes the process of reading a creative experience as well.

Contact author  to order your copy.

Fretta and Thin is a work of art; not a book you will read once and want to put away but something you will treasure.        Place your order now with author, Susan Krupp