D.K. Cassidy Writes About a Nation that Can No Longer Sleep

Image courtesy of Pluvio Press

 

I just reviewed The Sleepless(Insomnolence Book 1) over on Amazon, so check out the full review there! I’ve also written a neat haiku review over on Goodreads that quickly sums up my thoughts on the work.

The Sleepless was a very interesting story. What I learned from the author is the power of characterization and not being afraid to test premises.

In The Sleepless, the main character Kate has to navigate life not being able to sleep anymore, so she has to take on odd jobs like cleaning up dead bodies and the another horrible job she refuses: prostitution.

Thank God she has Decker, a dear friend(who could be more than a friend at this point) who does the clean up duties for her. He is actually a sleeper. One of the ones unaffected by whatever event happened a decade back. What I like most about him is that he is an artist and never had much liking for Smartphones and social media. He prefers touch and face to face communication.

D.K. Cassidy’s fearless approach to tell a story about a nation who can’t fall asleep makes the book appealing and to be honest gave me pause. I feel this nation is heading to that point now. Think about it: I can barely sleep because I am always scrolling on my phone trying to find the next Tweet, or next comedic Facebook post and when not doing that, I am reading an eBook.

By time I have to go to work, I am still up- no choice now.

When I come home, I hop on my laptop. I do real work on there, but social media takes up 80% of that time.

D.K. Cassidy is currently working on Book 2: The Dreamers. If you have not already, please subscribe to this blog and check out D.K. Cassidy’s amazing books! 🙂

~The Write Web

 

My One Week Experience With Blogmutt

Source: Photo by Caio

Geesh. I never ever learn, do I?

A few months ago, I wrote a pretty detailed post of my experience with Fiverr and how it stacks up to creating your own  writing career freedom, away from these “gig sites and content mills”.

Well, a little over a week ago I began to have the “writer’s itch”. I wanted to create content for the web like I did with Examiner and Helium(both sites have since moved or changed completely!)

I spotted a site called Blogmutt.

Blogmutt allows you to write content, submit it and you get paid $8 for 250+ words. More words could have you earning $72 per post- if the customer buys your article.

This all sounds good right? I was amped and ready to go. Before I could officially become a Blogmutt writer though, I had to go through the rituals.

• Take the grammar exam. Passed.
• Writing and Plagiarism test. Passed.
• Gave blogmutt my personal info for the W-9 form.

After all this, I received an email that read, “Congratualtions! You passed the exams! Now you have to write your first post. If your first post  is not accepted, you will be denied access to Blogmutt and can never write for us again.”

I wish I was exaggerating here, folks.

I wrote a pretty good article about Spanish language jobs and uploaded it to the site. I spent days on it, perfecting it, making sure it sounded just right.

Well, yesterday I go onto my Blogmutt dashboard and it reads, “ATTENTION: Your account has been suspended. We will not answer emails regarding the reasons.”

The creator must get off knowing he is an a%#@hole. The language spoken is unprofessional and the rules are not professional at all, and yet there are people, supposedly earning from this site.

This is what I mean by staying away from content mills. They take your work and then ban you for no apparent reason.

The only one I can blame is myself and maybe businesses.

If businesses want content for their sites, there are so many great writers out there and me making $8 per article is great if I write enough articles, but not enough to do the writing and then get banned.

I am not sure what tips I can offer here besides marketing yourself online and offline. Let people know you provide great web content services.

Until next time, keep writing! 🙂

The Write Web Evolution- It Had to Happen

 

Source: Unsplash.com

Yes, I am evolving and this blog will evolve right along with me LOL!

My first priority and job is as an author(actually my first is loving my amazing man, but you didn’t ask for all of that, did you?)

I am always revamping something on this blog.

I will continue to review books.

However, as an author, I have to think about my platform and what my readers expect from me.

Some new content I will be introducing soon, is a brand new way to review books  that I am sure everyone will adore! This new, fun method will be helpful in many ways for writers and readers.

Secondly, I will try to reduce posting a lot. I understand many people add me to their WordPress Readers or on Twitter which is good. For those of you subscribed to my email, I hope I have not been placing too much in your inboxes(truly sorry!)

Third, I am working on some amazing writing projects and I welcome- no- URGE you to participate in upcoming polls and discussions. In order for me to know what you’d like to see on this blog and how you feel about my books, I need feedback because, well, I do care about what your eyes consume.

Fourth- More notification about my novels, what I am working on, submission contests and more.

That is it for now. In the next coming weeks, I will be shifting and rearranging things on here. Good luck to you all and have a great day 🙂

Learn Chemistry Concepts in Under a Minute With This Book

Image courtesy of WellFleet Press

Know-it-All Chemistry by Nivaldo Tro

Wellfleet Press(2017)

ISBN: 978-1-57715-151-7

Grab Know it All Chemistry on Amazon today!

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As I always say, any book on science and math that uses colorful images, charts and illustrations, automatically gets an A+.

Know it All Chemistry has this and more going for it; I highly recommend it- but only as a companion to studying chemistry on a deeper level.

If you are looking for a simple, easy to understand book for help on areas dealing with tough topics like ionic bonding and chemical equations, this book is for you.

I wish this book was available when I was taking honors chemistry in the tenth grade years ago. The class was tough. Thank goodness for sites like Khan Academy  and  Thought Co.  where you can learn this subject and more for free. There are also several books you can buy to help you with chemistry.

Earlier, I mentioned that this book is better paired with a deeper study of chemistry.

I say this because the book is broken into one minute bites- chapters that give you the bare bones about specific topics and even runs down the timelines of famous chemists and theorists.

A fascinating fact I learned from reading the book was about the Yew Tree. This tree is very special even though on the surface it seems it may not be. Chemists have found out that its bark actually has cancer fighting agents in it.

In summation, I find this book to be very much needed as a companion to whatever you are using to study chemistry now. Highly recommended!

*Book received for free from Netgalley.

Answering the Toughest Questions About Heaven and Hell

Image courtesy of Bethany House

Answering the Toughest Questions About Heaven and Hell by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz

Published by Bethany House(2017)

ISBN:978-0-7-7642-1871-2(Print)

Grab your copy on Amazon!

*Book received for free from Bethany House Publishers*

Here’s a sobering fact: “More than 7,000 people die each day in the U.S. Nearly 11,000 are born each day.”(Answering the Toughest Questions, pg.28, 2017).

Bickel and Jantz began this book in the most logical way by asking: Is there an afterlife in general? The tone of the book is conversational, intellectual and made for very easy reading.

However, where the book excels in being  highly organized, the answers given may satisfy those who are deep in the religion and who never waver from the Word of God whilst “new school” believers like myself, believe in Christ but are not quite sure if everything the bible paints is 100% accurate or made clear.

The good part is that the authors actually save the biblical teachings for later. They offer information on the afterlife based off of sound research and used ingenious quotes from Peter Kreeft, Freeman Dyson, Alan Segal, and more.

The real question remains though: Were they able to give us what we want?

Well, the authors were humble enough throughout the book to mention that they do not have clear answers on everything. In fact, going with God, reading the bible and combing through research dealing with the afterlife is anyone’s best bet.

Another cool feature of this book are the reflection questions at the end of each chapter. The questions are tough too! Not something to take lightly. This is your afterlife we’re talking about here.

Below are a few teaser bits of what I learned from this book:

• Before followers of Jesus were called Christians, they were called people of the way because Jesus said it first that he was/is the way to heaven.
• C.S. Lewis said “we have an innate desire for immortality so immortality(in some form) must exist.
• Death may not sting, but it still hurts(I love how they put that!)
• Life after death can be explained through biology, consciousness, teleology, and physics- to some degree.
• Our brains and minds are separate. Therefore, when the body dies our minds or spirits will live on.

I enjoyed this book completely. It sort of rekindled my faith. I love reading theology and Christian living books for this reason.

Do you have any thoughts or experiences you’d like to share here? If you have reviewed the book also, let me know!

-The Write Web 🙂

Date Me by Logan Chance(My Honest Review on a Hot Novella)

Image courtesy of The Brothers Chance Publishing

Date Me( a Sex Me Novella) by Logan Chance

Published by The Brothers Chance 2016

Downloaded free via InstaFreebie

Grab Date Me on Amazon today!

According to author Logan Chance’s Amazon bio, he “tells it like it is and is a man of his own.” He has also been nominated for Best Debut Goodreads Author of 2016. With credentials like that, I was not surprised that this book would be pretty darn hot.

Erik Murphy is a bad boy pilot and he just learned his ex is getting married soon. He needs a date to go to her wedding. Someone to show off and make his ex mad- but who would go with him on such short notice?

With the help of his meddling, sailor mouth sisters, his profile is posted on a dating app and he is surprised when he gets more than a few lady callers.

One in particular, Belinda, seems to enjoy everything he enjoys. He begins messaging her back and forth and even looks forward to their light banter.

Then one day he meets Belinda’s friend Kayla.

Things get a bit ore difficult.

Erik’s growing attraction for Belinda is relegated to conversation only but her hot friend commands his fantasies with her body. They have a serious chemistry going on. He wants her- bad.

What is a man to do? Go for good conversation and a good time(He and Belinda likes the Miami Heat) or go with your instincts according to the laws of attraction?

Here is a full warning: there is a plot twist but even for a novella (which I finished in one night), it was soooo good. Right to the last drop.

Also, I think reading romance novels from a male perspective can be a new thing for me. Reading from male’s perspective, kind of confirmed that guys really do like when a woman takes control but they can also be sweet and thoughtful to the woman they love.

Guilty by Laura Elliot(My Honest Review)

 

Image courtesy of Bookouture

Guilty by Laura Elliot

Published by Bookouture June 22, 2017

ISBN:978-1786811424

*Book received for free from Netgalley*

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Thirteen year old Constance Lawson goes missing one night and the prime suspect is her very own uncle, Karl Lawson.

The only reason he is a suspect is because young reporter, Amanda Bowe, has a way with words; she makes some startling connections, supposedly linking Karl to his niece’s disappearance.

Six years later, Karl’s life has been destroyed: His brother alienates him, his wife and child abandoned him, and Amanda Bowe is doing excellent.

What will it take for Amanda to understand the pain she put Karl through?

What I can say about this book, is that it keeps you guessing. That is a major point for me and was basically the bonus which gives this book its 4.5/5 hearts.

The reason this book gets four and half hearts, is not because it’s a bad book. To be honest, this story was pretty brilliant.

I just have not read a psych thriller in so long, I was lost at some points or didn’t care..? I cared about what happened in Karl’s life though.

The reporter is one character I did not like nor feel any connection with.

Also, at some point, I thought the story would end, but then the book twists into Amanda’s story. I honestly did not care about her and her life. I truly didn’t. But her story is the bonus of the book in some ways.

What ways you may ask? When it comes to a person being guilty, so many play their role in it too.

I am seriously considering reading more of Laura Elliot’s books.