New covers

Now that I've been hanging around the indie authors' sites, I've seen a wide variety of books in many different genres. I'm impressed in general with the quality of books people turn out on their own without a whole lot of professional management.

When I turn back to my own books, however, I'm dismayed and disappointed. I now look at some of those books and wonder what I was thinking when I put them up there. I'm talking in terms of covers here, but also in terms of content and in some cases formatting. The whole thing needs an overhaul.

I have about twenty nine books, but I will probably take at least five off the market. I haven't decided whether to take both kindle and paperback off for those. Of the remaining ones, lots need new covers, either on paperback or kindle or both. It's a slightly daunting task so I've been putting it off.

But I'm up against a wall - about to move, I know that if I don't do it soon, I won't do it. I have a few new covers up there - Comin' 'Round to Lovin' It, paperback, and Five Second Rule, both paperback and kindle; also Pile of Leaves paperback. A new look, a new font. I'll drag them in here, and let you look at them on this blog. I am always looking for advice on my pop art, and you, my audience, can give it to me better than anyone else. Stay tuned!

One Woman's Voice

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One Woman's Voice:
Biography of Elizabeth Mansfield Irving (1852-1939), elocutionist, patriot, women's rights pioneer

Available on Amazon, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
paperback %5.95 + shipping
Kindle $3.99
free on Kindle Unlimited
ACX version coming
Non-zons (people who refuse to use Amazon), contact me & we'll work something out


This is a story of a woman who wanted to be an elocutionist, on the cusp of the nation's Centennial (1876), when women were not permitted to speak on important topics of the day. A gifted reader and orator, with a beautiful voice, she went into reading war poetry to reunions and encampments of Civil War veterans. She also inherited an insurance business when her husband got sick and died, becoming one of Toledo (Ohio)'s first women business owners. It's the story of using one's voice when one can, and getting one's voice when one is able. Her life corresponed with the rise of elocutionists as a united group, and the rise of the woman's suffrage movement, which ultimately gave women their voice in the political arena also.

Pile of Leaves: Stories of a Rake

Pile of Leaves: Stories of a Rake - personal favorite - KINDLE SPECIAL - free on kindle TUE and WED March 22-23 - https://www.amazon.com/Pile-Leaves-Stories-Thomas-Leverett-ebook/dp/B004IK948M

Welcome!

I am an author - I have been writing short stories, a novel, quaker plays, haiku, and family-related non-fiction for several years. You can find my work advertised on various blogs, poorly organized, without much concern for commercial traffic.

With this blog, I'm hoping for that to change. I'm starting it to collect my thoughts about writing as an indie author (100% indie, in my case), but also as an attempt to collect my feeble attempts at marketing and link them all from a single place. I'm hoping that you'll come back here more, since this will be the place that has careful links to every place I want you to go.

Sure, I have a press website, which lists everything I've published, as I publish it. You can count back and see that I haven't published much in the last three or four months; I've been backed up on my elocutionist project. And I have a blatant self-promo site, which also makes a big deal out of anything I've published but also lets you know about any sales or giveaways. This place has been slow lately too, no sales, no promos, no publishing. It's a good site but it's not doing it all for me.

That's because sometimes I just want to talk about writing. I have a place where I do that, but it needs a little updating and it, by the way, has links to almost all of my blogs and lots of other stuff too. And finally there are two other sites. One is yeah write; it has lots of my old stories on it, is not connected to google, and still gets a lot of traffic because it's kind of a secret portal that I used to tell my esl students about, and they kind of spread the word. It's connected from my main personal blog, but I don't really believe that people go there and look down the template to find the stuff I write. But finally, there is a novel idea, which I started out using just to collect ideas and resources for things I was about to write, and then, started using just to write stuff. These days, when I'm a little bogged down with the elocutionist project, I want to put stories there, as I write easily on blogs, and truly don't mind sharing the rambling of my creative process. But I don't want to give absolutely everything away either. I will probably trim this blog a little and work on making all these blogs more interconnected and distinct in their purpose.

One thing I want to talk about is the various indie writers I've encountered. I really admire them and value their friendship. I'm hoping to put some promo on here about things I've found, and promote them, as well as myself. I think anyone who gets out there and puts out novels, and takes it upon themselves to boost their own work, deserves a hand. To them I dedicate this blog.