Thursday, December 31, 2015

A TOUCH OF PASSION: Ambrosia by the Sea by @tracihallauthor

She blinked her cool blue eyes. He wondered if they’d warm up with passion, or turn an icier shade. “Okay.”
“Ask me something. Anything. So we can be even.”
Celia put her hand on her hip, her lips pursed with suppressed amusement. “You really are a Sir Galahad, you know? All right. You said you never took the plunge for marriage. Why?”
“I was engaged right out of college. She rushed back to New York after her first winter here with no snow.” There was more to it, of course, but he didn’t have to share his total heartbreak. The realization that promises of the heart could be broken. The shattering of the illusion, love. 
She smiled with compassion. “It was probably culture shock. New York is all about the snow, the parade, and Macy’s. What do you do here?”
“Go to the beach. Decorate our palm trees with conch shell ornaments. Santa knows his way to South Florida.”

Here is a heartwarming story for cold evenings... Excerpt from Ambrosia by the Sea by Traci Hall, included in A Touch of Passion


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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

In service of our characters

Approving the audiobook edition of The Music of Us was a happy time and a sad one too, marking the end of my work with a gifted artist, at least for now.

Having worked with several talented voice artists over the last few years I pride myself on having an ear for expression, but even with that there are surprises: enter Don Warrick. 

Having three distinct voices, the audition script proved a challenge to many actors, but upon hearing Don I knew instantly that he’s the one--or rather, he’s all three. For my mature protagonist he had a deep voice, rendered intimately as he reflected on his life’s journey; for the flashback character he had a younger, more upbeat voice, and as for the love interest, Natasha, he had a velvety, youthful female voice with a full range of emotions. In the story, Natasha has a long monologue, and it was crucial not only to get her voice right but also to hold the illusion for 10 minutes. Listening to how Don does her, it was hard to imagine the voice was coming from the throat of a man. 

What I did not know at the time was his ease of producing accents (from Russian to Scottish), his range of ages and most of all, his capacity to immerse himself in the character, to the point that he can live in their skin. This is the real magic. 


And another thing: for The Music of Us, there were several segments with lyrics, which Don sang oh so beautifully. As a lifelong stage actor he can easily project himself from the stage to reach the last row of spectators, but here, for my story, the songs were intimately rendered. For example, he sang Amazing Grace as a young war widow whose voice is choked with tears. 

I had a great time working with Don. There we were, author and narrator giving it all, in service of their characters. I am so grateful for the joy of creative collaboration.


★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a love story ★
The complete series: 

Volume III: 

Monday, December 28, 2015

Celebrating not only romance but also the talent of fellow writers

I am so grateful to Susanne Leist, the author of The Dead Game, for featuring the romance boxed set A Touch of Passion, which celebrates not only romance but also the talent of my fellow writers. Please check out my guest post:






Completely 'Twisted'

Just discovered this lovely new review for my dark fantasy horror collection of tales, Twisted

on December 26, 2015
I received this for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This was a unique and thought-provoking collection of short stories. It's title says it all as it truly is 'twisted'. Poznansky definitely provides a twist on reality and on what you wouldfre expect. These short stories challenge your thoughts and your senses. They will leave you overwhelmed with a sense of 'Wow' and 'What'.

If you are looking for something unique and powerful, something different that is unlike anything else, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.

Poznansky has a great writing style and I look forward to seeing more!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

A TOUCH OF PASSION: The Single Daddy Club by @DonnaFaz

The breeze blowing across the bay held the chill of true autumn. Derrick had hoped that taking the boat out for a short sail would help to clear his mind. But it seemed that chaos was determined to reign supreme.
He'd told Anna that he was falling in love with her. He'd had no idea whatsoever that he was going to say such a thing when he'd gone into school earlier today. But when she'd ambushed him like she had, announcing that she didn't want to see him anymore, he'd scrambled for some way to change her mind. His declaration of love had been a secret weapon he hadn't even known he'd possessed, until the sentence had tumbled out of his mouth.
After he'd said the words, however, he'd felt glad about it. Glad that Anna knew how he felt.

Here is a heartwarming story for cold evenings... Excerpt from The Single Daddy Club: Derrick by Donna Fasano, included in A Touch of Passion


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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Love Is Beautiful While It Lasts

Ia Uaro, a gifted artist and the author of Sydney's Song, was a published author at 17 and used the proceeds to help fund her university studies, during which time she was active in aero-modelling, martial arts, mountaineering, speleology, and more. I am honored to find her review of my novel, The Music of Us

on December 25, 2015
As always, Uvi doesn’t disappoint. In this brilliant painting Uvi skilfully depicts rich historical facts and engaging characters of well studied 1940s where we learn about fascinating WWII military servicemen, get insights into the sufferings of the civilians, observe the intriguing lives of artists and musicians, and compare the technology of things. All the while Uvi outlines the psychology of why people do what they do without judging.

With deep understanding of human nature and keen observation on how people interact Uvi shows the turmoils that moves protagonist Lenny to stray from his beloved even when in the beginning true love rules and in the end family values never cease to exist. Uvi teaches us about Alzheimer: what it does, what it changes, how it begins.

Fun, captivating, wise. After reading this, because of Uvi, we sure won’t be too quick to blame others and will instead think of the reason behind their actions. And oh, if you’re a writer, don’t forget Uvi’s excellent writing tips!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

A TOUCH OF PASSION: Concealed in my Heart by @ReginaPucket

She reached out from under the covers and took Judy’s hand. It was nice and warm. Her mother always smelled of vanilla, but this morning, she must have tried a new shampoo because the aroma reminded Charity of fresh green apples. “I believe they’re hoping for a white Christmas. I tried to tell them that in this part of Tennessee we seldom see snow this early in the season, but they are still hoping I’m wrong. At least it’s more like Christmas here than at their home in Malibu. With all the leaves off the trees, it looks like winter here. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will spit out a few flakes while they’re here. It is certainly cold enough today.”


In the spirit of winter... Excerpt from Concealed in my Heart by Regina Puckett, included in A Touch of Passion


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Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A TOUCH OF PASSION: Perfect for Him by @suzannejenkins3

He walked to her, bending down to kiss her. “I’m eating just fine. Go back to bed after the girls leave,” he said, moving toward the door.
“I might,” she said. As they walked to the kitchen, she tapped on the older girls’ doors. Everyone but Devon needed to get up before six during the week. It was still pitch black out, the short winter days getting closer. Harley poured coffee into Jason’s travel mug. He didn’t take the time to hang around in the morning for coffee. She looked out the window over the sink; a stray snowflake drifted by.
“I guess I’m lucky not to have to drive to the city in the snow,” she said, handing him his mug.

In the spirit of winter... Excerpt from Perfect for Him by Suzanne Jenkins, included in A Touch of Passion


Love Romance? Get this amazing collection
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Friday, December 18, 2015

Strategies for Promoting Your Book Using Social Networking

Here are three articles about reaching out to readers. These articles have been published on Aaron Paul Lazar's illustrious blog, Murder by 4, and included in his writing guides Write like the Wind (volume I, II, and III.) By asking me to write these articles, Aaron is creating a a great example of a creative collaboration between writers. Both of us wish to share knowledge and experience with fellow writers.

We, Indie writers, are an enthusiastic bunch, promoting with over-zealous vigor everywhere you turn: on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, KBoards, and just about anywhere else. This vigor is a double-edged sword, because some readers are turned off by the sheer amount of mind-numbing spam.

So, what’s a writer to do? Ask yourself: How do I stand out of the crowd? How do I reach out to readers and connect with them in a way that does not turn them off, a way that surpasses the competition?


So, you have been promoting your book all over town, day in and day out, shoulder to shoulder with other Indie writers, all competing for attention. It’s time to find a new tool for reaching out to readers.

If you have never set up a Facebook event before, try it! Right off the start, one important thing to know about it is that it is an incredibly potent tool. Every word you utter on your event page, every post reverberates to a wide audience--
 

To read more: 
Strategies for Promoting Your Book Using Social Networking (part II)
So you have gained some experience promoting your book through Facebook events and would like to take your promotion up a notch. One way to do it is by setting up a multi-author event. In this article I will offer a few tips, beyond the obvious (because you already know about setting up an event in a Public mode, and about creating a killer banner and a catchy title for it.) So prepare to add a few more tools into your toolbox.

The whole idea of joining forces is a potent one. Promotion is bigger than any single one of us, and even for the most successful among us, pulling together may yield surprising results--
(These are my pencil illustrations that, put together, gave me the idea for the oil painting depicted in this blog banner, at the top. I offer them here, as a reminder to myself that ideas put together bring about an overarching theme,)

A TOUCH OF PASSION: Just in Case by @emarxbooks

"All I had to do was keep him at a safe distance, just as I’d done when I was younger, because like it or not, Revell was the epitome of the southern gentleman. He could have had me in a rainstorm that hot summer night seven years ago. He could have had me in his car, parked out by Old Red Mill Creek, the cold Christmas break that my mother committed suicide. 
That was the thing about Revell; he didn’t want what was offered him, he wanted everything, promises included, because I’d made it pretty clear to him back then that he could have had his way with me. Back before I was older and started piecing little snippets of this and that together to make one sick, twisted tale about our pasts."

Excerpt from Just in Case by Elizabeth Marx, included in A Touch of Passion


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Thursday, December 17, 2015

The characters demanded I take them back

I am honored that my guest post about writing The Music of Us which is included in the romance boxed set A TOUCH OF PASSION is featured today on Christoph Fischer​'s illustrious blog. This is how it starts:


I love writing historical fiction because it is one of the most difficult genres of all, demanding a complete immersion in the era and studying every detail–in clothing, gadgets, hairstyle, manners and of course, the timeline of events–in order to make the story not only believable but utterly authentic. And even though I pride myself on writing with a sensual slant, aiming to put you in the skin of the characters, I have never before focused on the genre that would allow me to develop that lyricism to the fullest: Romance.

But lately, the characters I have written in Apart From Love demanded that I take them back a generation, to WWII, to the beginning of their love story

Please check it out: 

Guest Post: Uvi Poznansky, Author of “The Music of Us” (Included in “A Touch of Passion”)


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays everyone! I wish you could all come to my party, but this is the next best thing--can you smell the dough while I make my Chanukah treats?







This year at my party I had two very special guests: The wonderfully gifted Don Warrick, whose voice graces the audio production of my upcoming audiobook, The Music of Us, and who wowed all of us by singing The Impossible Dream, If I were a Rich Man, and many more amazing songs, and his lovely wife, Debbie. 

Don and Uvi

Uvi and Debbie

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Music of Us is music for the soul

Sandy Nathan is a gifted author, whose story has gone from riches to rags when a drunk driver ran into my father head-on in 1964, killing him. She has had prestigious careers, and her writing has won twenty-six national awards. I am honored that she read my work and posted this review for The Music of Us:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Music of Us is music for the soul …December 12, 2015
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Music of Us (Still Life with Memories Book 3) (Kindle Edition)
What an amazing story! I have heard of Uvi Poznansky, but I had not previously read her work. Wonderful! Her writing is as beautiful and lyrical and sad as the story she lays out, that of a husband trying to reconnect with the love of his life, a brilliant concert pianist ravaged by Alzheimer's. This is a deep romance and a true love story, as opposed to so much shallow trivia that's labeled romance. Elegant, classic, and classy, The Music of Us is a top of the line read. I immediately downloaded a sample of one of the author's other books, but I know I'll end up reading the entire series. It's simply too good to miss. Thank you, Ms. Poznansky!

I am ready to play. I am music.

What inspired me to write the series, Still Life with Memories?

Natasha, the renowned pianist suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's in my book Apart from Love (volume I and II of the series, woven together) kept coming back to haunt me. Her character was not an easy one to develop. The primary challenge is that she has no voice. She is utterly silent, which makes her son Ben hopeat firstthat she can be reached, that he can 'save' her. 

“There is no way to tell if she has heard me. Her gaze is fixed, as steadily as before, on the same small pane of glass, through which the sun is blazing; which makes it hard to figure out what she sees out there. 
I push forward, aiming to view it, somehow, from her angle, which at first, is too hard to imagine: 
In my mind I try, I see a map, the entire map of her travels around the world. A whole history. It has been folded over and again, collapsed like a thin tissue, into a square; which is suspended there—right in front of her—a tiny, obscure dot on that window. 
And inside that dot, the path of her journey crisscrosses itself in intricate patterns, stacked in so many papery layers. And the names of the places, in which she performed back then, in the past—London, Paris, Jerusalem, San Petersburg, New York, Tokyo—have become scrambled, illegible even, because by now, she can no longer look past that thing, that dot. She cannot see out of herself. 
She is, I suppose, confined.”

My novel, The Music of Us (volume III in the series) gives voice to her. 

“Once I find my way back, my confusion will dissipate, somehow. I  will sit down in front of my instrument, raise my hand, and let it hover, touching-not-touching the black and white keys. In turn they will start their dance, rising and sinking under my fingers. Music will come back, as it always does, flowing through my flesh, making my skin tingle. It will reverberate not only through my body but also through the air, glancing off every surface, making walls vanish, allowing my mind to soar.

Then I will stop asking myself, Where am I, because the answer will present itself at once. This is home. This, my bench. The dent in its leather cushion has my shape. Here I am, at times turbulent, at times serene. I am ready to play. I am music.”

This novel starts out at 1970, when she starts to succumb to her illness, and goes a generation back, to 1941, the time that she and Lenny first fell in love. This is the story of their love.

And my new release, Dancing with Air, shows her at her peak, back in the months leading to D-Day:

Then—just over the plaintive bleating of the sheep and the chaotic blasts rocking the mine—came a different sound. I listened to it in disbelief. It was the most wonderful sound in the entire world: a hum, the low, familiar hum of my Harley.
There it was, a silhouette of the beast, with Natasha astride on top of it, hair unfurling in the wind. 
I wanted to tell her how I admired her courage, the risk she took, riding it here all by herself, without my guidance, to get here. I wanted to tell her she should have stayed away. But by now I knew that for me, she would dare take any chance, come what may.
“Oh Lenny,” she said. “You look... I have no words for it.”
Overcome with sudden joy I staggered towards her.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”
In confusion I asked, “Where to?”
And Natasha said, “Anywhere, my love. Anywhere but here.”

Any hobbies or interests that I enjoy in my spare time?

In addition to being an author and a poet I am an artist. For me, the visual aspects of my craft go hand-in-hand with the literary aspects. I paint with my pen and write with my paintbrush, which means that when I write, I strive to describe the scene, as seen through my character’s eyes, as vividly as I now how, and when I paint, there is always a story revealing itself on my canvas. 

My art includes ceramic and bronze sculptures, paper engineering projects, watercolors, oil paintings, and mixed media. To see it go to my art site or to my blog. It is the heart of my drive to reach out to my readers and listeners. A post may include a poem, an excerpt from one of my books, the back story of what inspired a particular passage, a few art pieces by masters from different time period that illustrated to me different points of views about a particular moment of history, which in turn enriched my story about it. Please check out my bog, and come back often, there is something new every day! 

Do I see myself in any of your characters, or do any of them have traits I wish I had?

At first I decided to model Anita, the girl in the center of  a firestorm of passion in My Own Voice (volume I) and The White Piano (volume II) as the-opposite-of-me. Her use of language would be atrocious. She talks in sentences laden with 'like' and the dreaded double-negatives. Anita would become a bold and spontaneous spirit, anything but repressed. She would be promiscuous. Her voice would be shockingly direct. 

"In my defense I have this to say: When men notice me, when the lusty glint appears in their eyes, which betrays how, in their heads, they’re stripping me naked—it’s me they accuse of being indecent. 
Problem is, men notice me all the time.
How can a girl like me ever claim to be innocent? Even if I haven’t done nothing wrong, I’m already soiled, simply because of their dirty thoughts." 

I do not even know how it happened, but once Anita started talking in my mindwhich she did for nearly a yearI started to like her more and more. I asked myself, how would she play against Ben, who is a complex character, hesitant, highly sophisticated? How would she play against Lenny, a would-be author who is so proud of his refined expressions, when her background is so different from his? How would she measure up against his ex-wife, Natasha, the renowned pianist suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's?



★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a love story ★

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Season's greetings from all of us at A Touch of Passion



Tis' the time for season's greeting
Tis' the time for love
When winter wind is singing
Outside, around, above


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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

This one will leave you in contemplative thought

Dennis Waller, filmmaker and author of several books, is recognized as an expert on spiritual experience, self-discovery, and exploring the human consciousness. He is also a Top 500 Amazon Reviewer, which is an amazing rank. I am honored that he posted this review for my poetry book, Home:


TOP 500 REVIEWERon December 8, 2015
'Home' is a touching read that will leave you in contemplative thought as it will hit the soul as well as the mind and heart. The prose and poems reminds me of how I feel when I read Rainer Maria Rilke in how the emotions and thoughts are injected into the words, a masterful writing skill and one I wished I possessed. And like Rilke, there is that metaphysical melancholy present that washes over the reader like a cold and damp fall rain. Yeah, this is a book that feels very personal and private and one that leaves the reader with a sense of shared loss, if that's the right word. Either way, I like a book that can shake it up and this definitely did it for me.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Women, writing

Author of War Songs, Grady Harp describes himself as being ever on the alert for the new and promising geniuses of tomorrow. He is an artist representative, gallery owner, writer of essays and articles on figurative and all Representational art for museum catalogues and for traveling exhibitions, and an Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer. We are honored that he has posted this five-star review for our boxed set, A Touch of Passion:

Uvi Poznansky wears a coat of many colors. Originally from Israel where she studied Architecture and Town Planning then moving to the US where she studied Computer Science and became an expert in Software Engineering, Poznansky managed to combine the design elements of two studies into unique formats. And she has accomplished the same with the other side of her brain - making visual her ideas (she is an accomplished painter, drawer, and sculptor who has enjoyed exhibitions both in Israel and in California, her present base) and making words in poetry and in short stories and children's books.

Here she joins eleven other very fine women authors whose works embellish each other while standing very much on their own. The point is, knowing Uvi’s works makes the need to read the works of her colleagues stronger. There are no disappointments in this collection. The authors – Tamara Ferguson, Regina Puckett, Suzanne Jenkins, B.J. Robinson, Laura Taylor, Mimi Barbour, Lisa Gillis, Donna Fasano, Traci Hall, Elizabeth Marks, and Cynthia Woolf all have gifts to offer and in tandem they present a very fine collection of contemporary writing about Romance, suspense, fiction and a touch of history, Fine curl p by the fire reading. Grady Harp, December 15