Anyone Can Write

What is the difference between writing lyrics for a song, poetry, and stories?

Photo: Cara Hunter Viera

Well, each art form takes a different approach and certain techniques although I truly believe the best, in all three categories, are the pieces that come from experience and emotion.

Dreamcast Mcfly – Miami

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The difference between all three, in my opinion, is simply this. Writing stories are like putting events and memories together to let you know about what happened in that event. Lyrics are similar but actually put together with music, and poetry, which is the best one, is more of a descriptive and heart-felt set of lyrics just without the music. Trust me its amazing once you really get into it!

Mark- Miami

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“For me, the difference is as follows:The connection you are trying to elicit from your audience, and how you want them to interpret them to interpret, remember, and digest.”

Wendi- Detroit

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Lyrics for a song goes with the rhythm of the beat. As for poetry you don’t need the beat, you just need the rhythm of your heart.

David- Miami

An Alien to Publishing With David Estes

Publishing, regardless of whether you are self-publishing or going the traditional route, is a lot of hard work. While nothing is ever perfect readers tend to expect novels to be as close to it as possible. We expect the novel to have a good story line, no typos, well rounded characters, eye catching cover art is a big plus, and an attention grabbing blurb. The standards readers set for the books they read are pretty high and writers need to work hard to make their novel a masterpiece. I regress, publishing is a crucial part of getting your book into the reader’s hands and one made all the more difficult when self-publishing.

This month Seven has welcomed established indie author David Estes to break down what it means to self-publish. He was very generous in his advice and we have that all here for you. David Estes has self-published since 2011 and has four series (The Dwellers, The Country Saga, The Evolution Trilogy and Nikki Powergloves) a total of 13 books which include Young Adult and Children’s novels under his belt. He is an amazing writer who has made a lifelong fan out of me. 🙂

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of indie authors or self-publishing, the first platform that comes to mind is Amazon. It is a leader as a publishing platform and one of the biggest online retailers. However, for someone looking into selling their books on Amazon, knowing the facts is a must. I think that if I were to look into every reason that this selling giant has been dubbed a monopoly I would be here for weeks. Yet when sticking strictly to the publishing world, it can be spelled out in two words: KDP Select. Kindle Direct Publishing Select is a program where Amazon targets authors looking to publish their novel. In essence it asks for a three month exclusivity contract in exchange for higher royalties and ensures your novel will reach a new audience with the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library. When Estes was asked, ‘In your opinion what is the best and worst thing about publishing on Amazon?’ This is what he had to say:

Now that’s a loaded question! But it’s also an easy one. There are a few things that are awesome about Amazon:

First, their reach can’t be beat. They are still in a dominant position in the online (ebook) book-selling market. The vast majority of authors will undoubtedly get the bulk of their sales from Amazon.

Second, if your books are selling and getting good reviews, Amazon will help you. They will recommend your books to readers who enjoy similar ones and they will actually generate sales FOR YOU. This is an amazing thing once it really gets going. It can make or break your book.
Third, it’s really, really easy to publish on Amazon and the royalty rates are awesome if you price your book at $2.99 or above.

However, there are always two sides to every coin. There are some really frustrating things about publishing with Amazon that I’ve recently made very clear to them in a customer satisfaction survey:

First, their KDP Select program is a blatant attempt to monopolize the market, which is totally uncool. They promise nice perks like making your books available in a lending library (which you get paid royalties for) and give you the opportunity to make your book available for free every so often. However, in exchange, you have to SELL YOUR SOUL. OK, I’m being dramatic, but for me, it’s almost that bad. You have to agree to EXCLUSIVELY publish your book on Amazon. Like I said, not cool. It alienates readers who don’t buy their books from Amazon which I’m not down with.

Second, they have very strict pricing compliance rules that have been a royal pain in the butt a few times. They insist that your book must be priced as low or lower than every other retailer out there. I’m all for having my book priced the same everywhere, but it prevents you from doing, say, a Barnes & Noble promotion where you make your book $.99 on B&N for a few days. Uh uh, Amazon won’t allow it. They cry and shake their fists and say you have to include them at the party and make your book $.99 for them too. Of course, they have NO problem with you pricing your book at $.99 for a few days on Amazon but NOT on B&N. Yeah, double standards.

Third, Amazon has really annoying royalty rates for books priced lower than $2.99. It’s all part of their attempt to force Indie authors to price their books at $2.99 or above. The way it works is that if you price at $2.99 or above, you get an incredible 70% royalty rate, but if you price below that, you get a pathetic 30%. That’s frustrating because if I want to do a promotion and drop the price on one of my $2.99 books to say $1.49, although my price has only changed by $1.50, my royalty has gone from $2.09 to a measly $.46. For the most part, I price all my books at $2.99 or above, even if I don’t really want to. Otherwise it’s just not worth my while.

The bottom line, however, is that I can complain about my three big negatives until I’m old and gray and red-faced, but Amazon is still the key to my success. I own a Kindle, I buy tons of books from them, and I will continue to use them as my primary publishing platform.

Estes does an amazing job at breaking down what Amazon is to a publishing author. Now that the truth has been put out there, which is that through their good and bad Amazon is still a boss and a force to be reckoned with, you decide to still publish with them. Again, they are too big in the publishing world to look over. Just be wary of KDP Select. As in STAY AWAY!!! 🙂 But what’s next? When publishing you definitely shouldn’t stop there. That being said, Estes definitely has a criteria for selecting platforms to sell his novels, “My main goal in picking the platforms to publish on is to make my books available to as many potential readers as possible. I don’t like the idea of being exclusive to one platform as it completely ignores the thousands of readers who don’t use that platform and promotes the monopolization of the industry.” His goal is one I think all authors can relate to. He continues on to share with us his publishing strategy:

As a self-published author, I can’t possibly publish on every platform that offers ebooks, it’s just not feasible. Every day there are more and more ebook-selling platforms popping up, each with its own business model. At the end of the day, I’m a writer and I don’t want to spend my every waking moment on the publishing process. Plus, because I publish a book every 2-3 months, I need the process to be as streamlined and efficient as possible.

All that being said, my approach to publishing also needs to ensure I get the highest possible royalties for all my hard work. At the end of the day, this is my career, how I make a living, and choosing the right platforms can have a major impact on my success. There are distribution platforms out there, like Smashwords, that can help a self-published author distribute to a number of other ebook distributors. Through Smashwords “premium distribution” it can distribute to B&N, iBooks, Sony, and Kobo, to name just a few. However, as a fee for their service, they’ll take an extra 15% of your royalty. So not only will B&N take a percentage of each book’s sale price, but Smashwords will too. This can really cut into your royalties in a hurry.

Thus, I highly recommend publishing direct to as many major platforms as you can within your time constraints. Because I sell most of my books on Kindle and Nook, I publish directly to each of those two platforms. Then I use Smashwords’ service to publish almost everywhere else, like iBooks, Kobo, and Sony. However, if you choose to use Smashwords to publish some places, but not others, be sure to “Opt-Out” of distribution to the platforms you’re publishing to directly. Otherwise your book may be listed twice. So I lose a little bit of my royalty by not publishing directly to iBooks or Kobo, but it’s a minimal loss as my sales from those distributors isn’t a significant portion of my overall revenue. For me the trade-off between minor loss of revenue and the time it would take me to publish to iBooks and Kobo myself, is worth what Smashwords takes as the middle man. But if I had more time, I’d definitely consider publishing to a few other platforms directly. Finally, I publish to up and coming Google Books on my own through their Partner Program. It’s incredibly easy and already I’m seeing my sales from Google increasing each and every month.

That covers ebooks, but I also recommend publishing a paperback version in at least one place. That way your readers who don’t have ereaders can still access your books. Personally, I publish my paperbacks through Createspace, which is an Amazon company. That makes all my books available through Amazon as print-on-demand with no upfront cost to me.

The last question I asked of Estes was, “To a writer who doesn’t know their way around the selling platforms what advice would you give?”

There are a few key pieces of advice I would give to writers who are new to navigating the many selling platforms that are out there:

1. Focus on ebooks! That is the place to be, especially for Indie authors. You can offer your books at a better price than big published books and reach a growing market. You’ll also receive MUCH higher royalty rates than by publishing through print.

2. Focus on the biggest platforms because that’s where you’ll get most of your revenue. Amazon and B&N still have a stranglehold on the ebook industry. Although they will both inevitably lose some market share over time, the market is growing rapidly, so the overall pie will be getting bigger too.

3. Be aware of trends in the market. Do your research. For example, Apple and Google have both been pushing resources into their book-selling platforms, which will likely mean growth from them.

4. Take advantage of a worldwide market! Amazon and Barnes & Noble are only available in some countries. Use platforms like Smashwords.com to reach almost EVERY country. I’m selling more and more books in places like Asia, Africa, and Europe through Smashwords.

5. Use the templates provided by the platforms you choose. You absolutely need your book to be formatted nicely for each of your platforms. Otherwise readers will get frustrated with how hard it is to read your books and they won’t come back for the next one or recommend it to others.

When you are new to the publishing world and it is alien to you, there is always someone out there who has done what you are trying to do and is honest, open and giving with their advice. So ask questions. Also, be sure to let us know what part of the publishing process has you stomped and we will tackle it to the best of our and an experienced professional’s ability.

David once again, thank you so much for allowing me the pleasure of working with you and giving aspiring authors all this great advice. As per his words from the guest post listed below, “Read, read, read! Be a reader and a lover of books first.” So readers and writers out there, be sure to check out his novels which can be found on Goodreads and Amazon (and all the selling platforms listed above). To hear more on what Estes has to say about writing, publishing and promoting be sure to click on these sites: Advice For Writers That Are Just Starting by David Estes
Indie Author Advice Series #2 by David Estes

Your Book Sitting on a Book Shelf

I’ve had the pleasure of getting of working with Cindy C. Bennett a few times throughout this year. She’s pretty amazing, friendly and very knowledgeable about publishing. Cindy is an amazing author who has 15 published titles under her name. Two of these are traditionally published and she has found success there and in self publishing. She agreed to allow me to pick her brain about the publishing industry… I’m not so sure she knew what she was getting into 😉 but she very graciously and sincerely answered all of my questions. Thank you very much Cindy!

About Cindy
Cindy C Bennett was born and raised in beautiful Salt Lake City, growing up in the shadows of the majestic Rocky Mountains. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs. She also has two sons. She volunteers her time working with teen girls between the ages of 12-18, all of whom she finds to be beautiful, fascinating creatures. When she’s not writing, reading or answering emails she can often times be found riding her Harley through the beautiful canyons near her home (yes, I ride a Harley and no, you’d never know it to look at me!).

Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Web Site

Q: Besides a good novel, what do you believe is the biggest necessary attribute to be successful in the self publishing world?
A: A willingness to work hard and learn everything you can about marketing, without over marketing.

Q: Besides a good novel and persistence, what do you believe is the biggest attribute needed to have your novel picked up by a publisher?
A: A willingness to take a lot of rejections before you find the one that’s a good fit for you, and also to not be afraid to say no to an offer if it doesn’t feel right.

Q: When it comes to writing and publishing do you have a philosophy or advice that you live by?
A: My advice is to make sure that you have learned the mechanics of writing such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Without those, no matter how good your book is, nobody will read it because it will be too distracting to read or come across as bad writing.

Q: When writing a novel, how do you personally make the distinction of self publishing that novel or seeking a publisher?
A: With my first traditionally published book, I found them during a time when I did not know what I know now about publishing. With my second published book, my publisher asked me specifically for that book which is why I have two novels with Sweetwater books.

Q: What is the biggest piece of advice you can give to aspiring writers about publishing?
A: Understand that you’re going to get rejection in the publication process, and even if you do succeed, whether you are traditional or self published you will get rejections from readers that are harsh. You just have to learn to let it roll off your back and not take it personally.

Q: Looking back on your writing career, what would you have done differently?
A: I would have started much younger. I would have not been afraid of thinking I was going to get rejected. I would have published sooner, one way or another.

Q: What do you consider to be the best aspect of each publishing method?
A: The best of traditional is seeing your book sitting on a book store shelf. There is something inherently validating in that. The best aspect of self publishing is being able to retain complete creative control over every part of your book.

Q: What do you consider to be the worst?
A: The worst aspect of traditional publishing is the very small amount of money you make for all of the hard work that you do for your book. The worst aspect of self publishing is that it requires a lot of time to get your book ready, including editing, formatting, etc. that you might end up having to pay someone to do.

Q: What advice would you give writers who are interested in publishing and are unsure of which route to take?
A: I would suggest, with the way to marketplace is today, to look into self publishing before traditional because the publishing world is changing. There’s almost more reasons, at this point, to self publish than to traditionally publish. But in the end, it has to be what you feel will work best for you and your lifestyle, as well as the amount of time, money, and work you want to put into your book.

Q: With deadlines being a big deal in the publishing world, how do they differ on each side of the spectrum? How do you go about dealing with each?
A: With traditional publishing, you’re more tightly bound by deadlines than you are with self publishing. With traditional, you have many people who are working on your book and need to have it by a certain time to get their job done. A traditional publisher schedules releases and so you have to have it done by a certain time. With self published its more relaxed because you’re the only one requiring to have it done by a certain time so if you’re not done it’s not the end of the world.

Q: Are there any problems that are unique to women in the publishing world?
A: I actually think it is easy for a woman because many time a woman has more freedom with time to work on her book and work on marketing than a man who might be supporting a family. I don’t think there is a prejudice from a man vs. a woman on who is going to sell more books.

Q: Because we are celebrating Mother’s Day this month, how do you manage your time with writing and motherhood?
A: I have extremely understanding kids who are very supportive of my career and encourage me to write and they even read as I’m writing, so I’m probably luckier in that area than many areas. I don’t have little kids at home, my kids are a bit older. For me, I always prioritize my family first. If there is a family thing, or something they want to do, I do that first before doing my writing. So for me, I don’t generally find that there is a conflict between writing time and family time.

Thank you Cindy for this insightful interview. Be sure to stop by one of her links, follow and thank her for this amazing interview. If anyone has any questions or topics you would like covered in Anyone Can Write be sure to comment below. We will be trying hard to cover topics that will help writers better navigate the publishing world.

Anyone Can Write

As a writer today, there are many options for putting your work out there. Technology has made it possible for books to reach the eyes of millions with a click of a button. With forums like Wattpad and blogs, writers can easily share their words with the world. However, for a writer that not only wants to share the craft but also make a living from it, what are the options? We are no longer living in times where the traditional route is the only feasible one. Today’s writers have options. When it comes to publishing with the intent to make money, there are two options: traditional or self publishing.

Being that neither of these routes is a walk in the park and each being polar opposites from one another, how do you decide which route is best for you? The most important thing is to be informed. What is the difference between traditional and self publishing? If you decide to go with the traditional route, you might meet a bit of rejection. As many of you know, it takes quite a bit to draw the eye of a publisher. For example, you might need an amazing query letter, a lot of patience and possibly an agent. At the end of the day, the big factor is finding a publisher that is a good match for you. One who understands your visions and ultimate goals and what the heck, sending a nice advance your way would definitely help. The publisher will take your novel, edit it, ensure it has a great cover, build up a bit of buzz over it, then market and distribute it. As for self publishing, the only help you get is the one you pay for. You write your novel. You edit it. You design the cover. You publish it. You market it. Where self publishing is involved, every aspect of your novel being successful begins and ends with you.

If self publishing is so much work for the author, why has it become so popular? This is actually an easy question to answer. Although self publishing is an awful amount of work, it truly has many positives. Sometimes when a publisher is involved, the editing can be gruesome and extensive. After all, publishers are looking for novels that are easy to market and are sure will sell. So much so that in order to ensure commercial success many novels are butchered from what the author envisioned to what the publisher deems acceptable. While this is not always the case, Self publishing allows you to always have complete creative control.

Money and how it differentiates between the two publishing methods is a little more complex, at least on the publishing side. There is a very good article written by a blogger that dives into the subject of money from both aspects. To read about it in detail and visit Wrightspeak click here. Basically, the article states that while publishing houses tend to give their authors a very small percentage of earned income and the book royalties, because the books usually reach a broader audience, these authors still make a decent amount. On average a published author makes more than an indie writer. However, an indie author will see nearly every penny spent on the purchased novel. While this truth might differ based on the format of the book, the fact stays that self publisher authors get a bigger piece of the pie.

So when you write your novel and are assured it is a master piece. It is quite simply ready for the printing press as far as you are concerned. A writer seeking to go through traditional publishers will get their amazing query letter, stamp their envelopes and send them out to dozens of publishers. Lets say, you hear back from one who is interested in picking up your book. A this point, saying you are thrilled is an understatement. You wrote this novel with the hopes of sharing your ideas, imagination and passion with others. After all, your heart and soul has been weaved into every word on that page and you could not be more excited to share it with others. Well, overly excited and impatient writer, you will have to calm your horses and learn the virtue of patience. From the time that the query letter leaves your hands to the time the book hits the stands, years have most likely passed. Most publishers seek perfection, and they will polish your novel until it’s gloss is iridescent. Self publishing, however, is great on time. You can go from polishing your novels to having it available for readers within days. That is the beauty of ebooks and websites like Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo and Lulu.

Comics used in this article were borrowed from here and here.

Anyone Can Write

Each writer has it’s own motivator or person, place or thing that inspires them to pick up a pen (or grab a laptop) and start writing. One of my main inspirational places is the beach. This photo taken by Ray Hernandez symbolizes one of my favorite places in the world to clear my head and reconnect with myself. There’s something about this photo that allows me to hear the waves, feel the sun, and to redirect my fateful step to make luck work in my favor. Ray, generously agreed, to give away a 10×20 copy of this photo. Make sure you visit and like his Facebook page www.facebook.com/RayFineArt and click on this link:A Rafflecopter Giveaway for your chance to win! Good Luck! =)

Do you believe in LUCK or FATE and can either be manipulated?

We manifest our own destiny through the power of our focus, language and physiology; and in doing so we create our own luck and affect the direction of our fate.

Todd Gray @boldsuccess

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The Bible says that man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. That’s what I believe. I may use the words “luck” or even “coincidence,” but I don’t believe in them when it comes to life events. I believe one can do their best to achieve their goals, passions, and desires. However, the part that is out of one’s control, it comes as a result of God breathing in that direction. “Luck” and “fate” is simply defined as the Lord showing favor in one’s life.

Michael May – Cleveland, Ohio

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I believe in fate. Luck can be manipulated. In luck you succeed through chance. Fate can not be manipulated. It is the outcome of what is meant to be. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. It’s destiny.

Javelis – Florida

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Such abstract words tagged to a seemly simple concept concerning predetermining the outcome of future event. Fate speaks more towards a definite future where as luck leans more toward chance of possibilities leaving room for inconsistencies. To cut down on inconsistencies and better our “luck”/ possibilities we limit the amount influence of other factors. Thus making our future or “fate” more definite.

via Instagram @101westbartlettrd

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Yes and they can’t be manipulated but you can definitely work on affecting their outcomes by your actions.

Ray Hernandez – Miami, Fl

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From a thought to a film

There is something to be said about book based films. It’s usually pretty amazing to see something in real life that you’ve only visualized in your mind. There tends to be something surreal and kind of magical about it. Seeing if things are done as you visualized, how the casted characters compare to what you had imagined and overall if the essence of the novel is captured.

In a novel the author has to use so many details to create a visual for the reader- to make it real. So when it comes to a fan of a book watching the film- I think the status quo is to find it lacking. After all, the author has already set the bar and us readers, we have standards. So you read a book you enjoy, find out it’ll be in your local theater soon, you finally find yourself watching it and…. How often are thrilled by it? In an: that was amazing, couldn’t have been better and met/exceeded my expectations kind of way. How often are you disappointed? In an that movie sucked, I should send that screen writer hate mail, the story was so butchered I think I just sat in the wrong theatre kind of way. Usually it’s a gamble and there is rarely a way to tell if you’ll leave feeling satisfied. I will be looking into one of many novel based films and sharing my thoughts on it.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

First off, I LOVED this book. It is amazing and manages to appeal to readers of any age group and has set the bar for dystopian novels. Hearing that a movie was being made for it was truly exciting for me. To be honest I went all third degree stalker on it and was constantly seeking out news releases or details of the progress of the film- like scene locations or character appointments. And at the end of the day, through its good and bad I found this film to be lacking.

My brother, he’s a really big movie buff. He’s the type to go to the movies every weekend and although he’s not at all a Jim Carey fan (I really don’t get it!) he’s the go to guy for honest reviews of movies. Well he beat me to the theater and saw Hunger Games before me. His opinion of this highly advertised and anticipated movie was something along the lines of ‘Eh! I don’t really see why (the movie) it’s a big deal.’ My answer was like ‘What!?!? That’s just because he hasn’t read the book.’ And to my disappointment it was the truth. The movie does not tend to cater to people who have not read the book. A lot in the movie goes unexplained, like the importance of the Katniss’ memorial service for Rue (if we can call it that). Why the song was important and how rebellious that act was. So if you read the Hunger Games you could see, enjoy and understand everything and afterwards are forced to explain to the person who joined you to watch the movie what it all meant- “because apparently making a movie with a little more details is too hard a task”. And yes those are air quotes intended to show words laced with sarcasm.

Then there is the fact of the casting. I followed this thoroughly and for the most part couldn’t really complain as I didn’t know who these actors where to complain about them. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson were totally unknown to me but they looked the part so no complaint from me. Then when Lenny Kravitz was casted as Cinna boy did I criticize that. However, it only took the first ten seconds of me seeing him playing the role and I have to say he and Elizabeth Banks were awesome. The casting done by Debra Zane was amazing. In truth seeing the cast was my biggest like in the movie.

The Hunger Games movie found itself in a gray zone for me. I neither loved or hated it. I enjoyed seeing it and loved the cast. Yet I did not love it and found myself with quite a few disappointments. How often does the transition from novel to film leave you satisfied? What transition would you consider to be an epic fail? Are there any transitions your scared to take too close of a look at and want someone else to do it for you? We would love to read your comments.

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From our youngest fan

LOVE is in the heart
PEACE is in the mind
TRUST is in the soul
HUGS are in the arms

Written by: Lauren

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April’s question of the month: Should the government dictate what is appropriate to withhold from the people in order to protect the people? Leave your comments below for a chance to be featured in next month’s issue.

What do you think?

We, at SEVEN see the beauty and possibilities of the written word. In this category we encourage you to contribute. To pick up a pen and write your heart out because we all know that the greats started somewhere. We are aware that everyone writes (technically speaking), but here we encourage the use of heart, soul and inspiration to show that anyone is capable of being a writer. Anyone Can Write is a page dedicated to you, the readers. To your words and ideas.

Does unconditional love forgive when we have been betrayed?

“Yes, because we’ve all screwed someone over at one time or another.”

—Jarrad from Miami, FL

Unconditional love can forgive depending on how severe the betrayal or situation is!!! Because, if you love that person your gonna find a way to forgive or excuse and try to forget what happened. Even though there might be times and situations that arise that will bring you back to that betrayal moment where you be like damn, is he doing this or is this going on? And you question the situation at the moment and hope and pray that isn’t what is happening to where you are being betrayed again and wont be at ease until you know what’s really going on and know the situation is clear. Then you remember why you forgave them from the start and it’s all because of that 4 letter word LOVE!!!

—Jessica A. from Long Island, NY

“Yes, eventually because unconditional love is agape love, but it doesn’t take from our humanity. You would have to be super human to immediately forgive without conditions .There are different levels of love, with agape love being the highest form of love, and that type of love can only be achieved by being like Christ. The question is who among us would do that?”

— Rebecca from Dallas, TX

I believe in unconditional love their always has to be forgiveness but I guess it depends on level of betrayal. If theirs an ultimate betrayal you can forgive and love the person but decide you cannot be with the person. I guess it more so varies from situation to situation, but to me forgiveness is freedom, so I believe fully in forgiving, forgetting however is another matter completely.

—Leiryn from Bronx, NY

I say yes because if you really do love someone you can forgive them. It will take time and effort on both sides to repair that trust but it’s not impossible.

—Danielle from Hammocks, FL

It depends on the person. You have to be able to work and repair the damage of the betrayal as a couple. You have to see why did it happen. Was it negligence, selfishness or was the skin just too weak. Personally, I couldn’t do it. I might say I forgive, but I won’t forget. Which is not forgiveness.

—Jeannette from Miami, FL

Honestly in the beginning I would forgive, but it will always be in the back of my mind and it will cause conflicts in the long run. You will end up playing games until one or the other gets tired and throws in the towel…So to answer your question depending on the person I would say it wouldn’t work as far as I know.

—Mike A. from Babbling Brooke, NY

Would you like your picture submitted next month? Just answer our question and submit a PG photo with your answer. Email us at 7themag[at]gmail[dot]com or use the form. Your answers will be published, along with the rest of our amazing issue, March 7, 2013. Remember to tell your friends to check out your new CELEBRITY status! Here’s the question:

Next Issues Prompt: Do you believe in LUCK or FATE and can either be manipulated?

Contributions: For next months issue we are accepting contributions for the Short Shorts category. Be sure tie it in to the theme of Fate and/or Luck and keep the word count between 300-1500 words.

See

or send contributions directly to 7themag[at]gmail[dot]com.

Seven Quotes:

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. “–Oscar Wilde

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” -– Nicholas Sparks

“The half-life of love is forever.” -–Junot Diaz

“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” —Ingrid Bergman

“Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together: at the door where the latter enters, the former makes it’s exit.” —Alexandre Dumas

“I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.” —Pablo Neruda

“Forgiveness and love are companions on the same journey, but the battle between love and pride are eternal.”– K.S. Pratt

Words from the Editor in Chief:

I learned this month, that even though procrastination has always been my friend, I have placed it in the wrong category in my life. I used it to keep me from getting where I need to be, when in reality I was just afraid. I was afraid of not being good enough and not letting it out to hang, so to speak. I was told by a wonderful man that if you hesitate you die. I have taken that to heart. Isn’t it true that if you don’t nurture a dream, eventually it ceases to exist? Stop procrastinating and just do it already. I did. As I said before…This is Seven. Thanks for reading. =)