Responding to the Critics Part 1 – Beautiful Evil Winter

Story Let Down By the Writing:

“…As said, great story line but the writing was not good and the reactions of the characters after their traumatic experiences were unbelievable. I was also a bit confused as to who was speaking at times as the punctuation was odd.”

First, so proud that my debut novel earned two coveted awards – an Eric Hoffer Award and a Readers’ Favorite Book Award.  I’ll keep writing. The Eric Hoffer Award “…has become one of the largest International book awards for small, academic and independent presses..”.Established twenty years ago, “…it honors …books of exceptional merit…”  

By contrast, the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards “…receives submissions from independent authors, small presses and publishing giants such as Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, with contestants that range from the first-time self-published author to New York Times Best-Selling Authors like …James Rollins and Daniel Silva ask well as celebrity authors like Jim Carey…” Polishing my third novel now. 

Second, re: the reactions of the characters, in very intense stressful situations, levity can be powerful and relaxing. See: https://www.verywellmind.com/laughter-as-a-coping-mechanism-3144664. According to author, Elizabeth Scott PhD, “..One of the main goals of finding the humor in a stressful situation is to use the humor to create distance between yourself and the stress you are experiencing. Laughing at the humorous aspects of a stressful situation can help you to keep things in perspective and remind yourself that what you experience may not be the worst thing you can possibly face…”

Milton Berle said it best, “”Laughter is an instant vacation.”

Terrifying to wait outside a Russian court room when we”d never appeared in a U.S. court room in any capacity. When waiting outside a Russian courtroom for an adoption hearing, shared laughter changed the moment from scary to joyful and happy. Relaxing laughter “…helps the brain think more clearly and problem solving more effectively. From this calmer state, we’re better able to collaborate with other to come up with better solutions to the things thats stress us out…” according to Heidi Hanna PhD and integrative neuroscientist. See the following link for more information: https://www.everydayhealth.com/wellness/united-states-of-stress/advisory-board/heidi-hanna-phd-q-a/

Third, odd punctuation. Sadly, I made a mistake by partnering, on the original version of my novel, with a publisher who failed me and the story in many ways including editing. For that reason, I hired David Aretha of Yellow Bird Editors to overhaul the editing. He completed the project in December 2018 after your read and review.

BTW, David Aretha, an editor and award-winning author, has written 90 books and edited more than 200 books for 30 plus publishers including Random House, St. Martin’s Press and HarperCollins.