Category Archives: The Writer’s Life

The Writer’s Life: Book Cover Art & Design

11 Sunday Jul 2021

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Front Cover of The Twisted Circle: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus
Cover Art & Design by Rosaliene Bacchus

When I left the convent in December 1977, my career as an art and geography high school teacher smashed against the boulders defending Guyana’s coastline. Broken and lost, I was set adrift—without purpose or direction for my return to secular life. Inspiration for my creative artistic expression vanished with the prevailing winds. Never to return…until now.

On completion of my second novel, The Twisted Circle, I had contacted two artists I knew about designing my front cover. Both declined to take on the project. Book cover design was not part of their expertise. In 2019, I considered contracting the services of a book cover designer on Fivver.com. Then something peculiar happened during the early months of the COVID-19 lockdown. Amid the doldrums of anxiety and uncertainty, inspiration for taking on the project myself surfaced like a bubble from the ocean floor. Our subconscious mind works in mysterious ways.

Inspired by real events, The Twisted Circle tells the story of two religious women, Guyanese Sister Barbara Lovell and American Sister Frances Adler, torn apart by obsession and entitlement. Within the confines of the community’s Santa Cruz convent, isolated in Guyana’s northwest rain forest region, they are ensnared in a twisted circle of deceit. The symbiotic relationship between the nuns and predatory priests is brought into the light. The Forest Spirits guard dark secrets. Raven knows.

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The Writer’s Life: Self-Publishing My Second Novel

06 Sunday Jun 2021

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Frustrated – Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

On Tuesday, June 1st, after I failed to access my business e-mail account at rosalienebacchus.com, I called Tech Support. My tone must have been belligerent, because the guy at the other end of the line kept saying, “I’m trying to help you, Ma’am.” I snapped when he told me to download the Google Chrome browser. Another browser was the last thing I needed. I refused to comply and ended the call.

How wrong I was to believe that I was coping well with my frustrations over the past seven weeks!

Following my action plan, I contacted Lulu Publishing on April 15th to begin the self-publication process of my second novel, The Twisted Circle. Their reply was devastating. The One-on-One Author Support Plan that I had used when publishing my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, ended in July 2020. I assume that this service was yet another victim of the 2020 pandemic lock-down.

It took me a week to get my bearings. The prospect of working with another self-publishing service provider was not at all appealing. Besides, I am very satisfied with the services that Lulu provides for the global distribution and sales control of my first novel, Under the Tamarind Tree. I made my decision: I would proceed on my own with the help of Lulu’s Book Creation Guide. Their Knowledge Base also provides helpful resources throughout the process.

During my years working in international trade, the computer and I have had a shaky relationship. I mastered only the essential. Book design and production demand new software skills. I can do this, I reassured myself. Just take one step at a time at my own pace. No pressure.

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The Writer’s Life: My Author’s Website

28 Sunday Feb 2021

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Photo of Rosaliene with Gloria, Owner of Gloria’s Restaurant in West Los Angeles, California

I am no computer systems geek. So, imagine my consternation on January 25th when I received an email from Yahoo Small Business regarding the latest change in their webhosting services. Since 2007, I have been using their Yahoo SiteBuilder to power my business website, rosalienebacchus.com. The monthly fee for their webhosting services is a good fit for my super-tight budget. With the assistance of Richard Wagner’s book, Yahoo! SiteBuilder for Dummies, I managed to create and maintain my own website. Whatever it lacked in professional appearance, my website attracted numerous visitors for its rich content for those interested in doing business with the United States and Brazil.

Over the years, I survived the disruption and frustration of each upgrade to the Yahoo SiteBuilder editor. That is all in the past now. Beginning this coming March 31, Yahoo will discontinue support for the system powering my website. While I still clung to the old and familiar, the company had moved on to newer website creation tools. They are putting the old editor to rest. My website will become an orphan.

After D-Day, I will no longer be able to edit or update my website. “You must create a new website,” Yahoo informed me. They provided me with two options: make a new business website myself or use a team of experts to build my website. Neither option appealed to me.

After nine days of resisting the inevitable, I emailed Yahoo Small Business enquiring about maintaining my domain name and links to the vast content on my soon-to-be-orphaned website. Both needless concerns: I have received no response to date.

With trepidation a week later, I clicked the link provided to learn more about creating my own website. Fear of the unfamiliar is a terrible master. I can do this, I assured myself. Each breakthrough was cause for celebration. As I got better at creating new pages, I even had fun with the creative process. I had to let go of my international trade content and focus on creating an author’s website. For over six years now, I no longer provide international trade services. The time to move on had long passed.

On February 26th, carefully following Yahoo’s information guide, I successfully published my website using the same domain: www.rosalienebacchus.com. My new author’s website is filled with photographs and empty spaces. The website Menu is also not fixed, which I find a nuisance. My son, an electronic games designer, explained that these features facilitate viewing on the smaller laptops and smart phones.

My Home Page features my journey to becoming a writer as well as a link to an interview with Guyanese-Canadian author Ken Puddicombe in which I share my writing process. I hope that the reviews and praise provided on the page promoting my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, will entice more readers to buy my book. For those readers wishing to learn more, my website also offers “Behind the Scenes” information about my debut novel.

Snapshots and links to my Short Stories, published on the Guyana Journal website, are also available for free reading. I have yet to determine how I will archive my monthly featured poets on my Poetry Corner. I am still in the learning process. Creating the dropdown box for “Behind the Scenes” was a major achievement. Yay!

Since I am not active on Facebook and LinkedIn, I would love to have visitors connect with me through My Blog, Three Worlds One Vision: Guyana~Brazil~USA.

I would love to get your feedback. My new author’s website is still a work in progress.

Update: The Writer’s Life Under the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

06 Sunday Dec 2020

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Seven months have now passed since I first posted about life during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time in May, more than 67,000 of our loved ones were taken from us. With our collaboration, this formidable foe continues to contaminate, maim, and kill. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as at December 5, 2020, a total of 277,825 Americans have lost their lives. Their grieving families are devastated.

Here in California, America’s most populous state, we now rank in top place with more than 1.2 million infected individuals. Over 19,400 people have died. A recent surge in new infections have heightened the threat. In just 24 hours last week, 18,591 people were infected. COVID-19 does not suffer from battle fatigue. Our weapon to counter this coronavirus will soon be deployed. Relief is on the horizon, but, until then, we must counter its rapid spread.

Concerned that our hospitals would be overwhelmed, putting more lives at risk, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on December 3rd a Regional Stay at Home Order, to take effect on December 5th. Another three weeks! Severity of the lock-down will depend about the capacity of Intensive Care Units (ICU) in each region. On Friday, ICU capacity in Southern California dropped to 13.1 percent.

“By invoking a Stay at Home Order for regions where ICU capacity falls below 15 percent,” said Governor Newsom, “we can flatten the curve as we’ve done before and reduce stress on our health care system…. If we stay home as much as possible, and wear masks when we have to go to the doctor, shop for groceries or go for a hike, California can come out of this in a way that saves lives and puts us on a path toward economic recovery.”

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The Writer’s Life Under the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

03 Sunday May 2020

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Today marks the fifty-third day of my home isolation under our statewide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19. Though I’m used to working at home, the fallout of this global pandemic has unsettled my creative writing process. I can no longer focus. Our federal government’s chaotic mishandling of this health disaster has scrambled my brain cells. Each day brings new shocks that demand processing.

Attempts to write the fourteenth chapter of my third book have proved futile. Instead, I focus on completing the essential research required to add legitimacy and depth to the profiles of women I plan to feature in this book. More than ever, men and women must work together as equal partners to find solutions for the existential crises the human species now face. No more name calling. No more putting down. No more cries to lock her up.

After my initial consideration to postpone the 2020 release of my second novel, The Twisted Circle, I’ve decided to go ahead with its publication. I’m now ticking off each step completed of the process for submission of my complete manuscript from cover to cover. More about the cover art at a future date. Continue reading →

The Writer’s Life: Getting Feedback for Work in Progress

23 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by in Reviews - Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus, The Writer's Life

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I’ve been blessed in being part of a supportive writers’ critique group comprised of accomplished writers. Over the past five years, we’ve met once a month at a local restaurant. Our numbers have fluctuated between four to six writers with work in progress. But things don’t always work out the way we would like them to. Life happens. We have other pressing needs besides our writing.

With our active members now down to two of us, we’ve begun frequenting the Monday Night Fiction Workshop held at Beyond Baroque, a Literary | Arts Center in Venice, Los Angeles County. As I struggle with the first draft of my current writing project, I’ve found the fresh voices stimulating and motivating to keep pressing forward.

Instead of a third novel, to be set in Brazil, as planned, I’ve decided to explore the theme of the woman as a social construct. The minority male elite–not forgetting the women who support them–who control our global capitalist economic system are leading the human species, along with non-human species, towards extinction. Women play a vital role in maintaining the profitability of this system. If we are to reverse course, the role of women in society urgently needs to be re-examined. Continue reading →

The Writer’s Life: Juggling Priorities

06 Sunday Oct 2019

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Since entering the world of book publishing, marketing and sales, I’m now engaged in a daily battle of juggling priorities. My focus has become so scattered that I’ve fallen behind with my writing projects. Hopefully, I’ll come up soon with a new working schedule that would provide some balance and reduce my stress.

It’s not all bad, though. At our writers’ critique group meeting on September 4th, I presented a copy of my novel to the owner of Gloria’s Café. For the past five years, our group has been meeting once monthly at Gloria’s where we enjoy their Mexican and Salvadoran cuisine.

Rosaliene presenting copy of novel to Gloria, owner of Gloria’s Café
West Los Angeles – Southern California – September 4, 2019

 

My thanks go out to blogger, Larry “Dutch” Woller On The Path Least Traveled, for purchasing my novel.

Blogger Larry “Dutch” Woller
Photo Credit: On The Path Least Traveled Blog

 

More thanks go to the Iranian Canadian, award-winning author, Laleh Chini, for her five-star rating and review of my novel. Here’s her praise for Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel on Amazon:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great read.
October 1, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
What a great read dear Rosaline, well, of course, I wasn’t surprised after being your blog’s fan. You deserve the five stars indeed.
Lalehchini.com 

The eBook version of my novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, is now available at the following distribution outlets:

Rosaliene’s Store at Lulu

Amazon Kindle

Barnes & Noble Nook

Rakuten Kobo

I’m awaiting news from my publisher about the resolution of an issue preventing distribution to Apple’s iBookstore. Continue reading →

The Writer’s Life: Latest News

25 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by in The Writer's Life, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

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I’ve just received news that an excerpt of my novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, submitted for consideration, is featured today, August 25th, 2019, in The Writers’ Room section of the Stabroek News, Georgetown, Guyana. Also featured is an article titled, “Self-therapy,” about the author.

You can read the excerpt and article at the following link:
https://www.stabroeknews.com/sunday/the-writers-room/

 

UPDATE: MORE GOOD NEWS

I’ve now learned, through a Google Alert, that my novel is also now available on the following book sites:

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781684706488&i=stripbooks&linkCode=qs

Barnes & Nobel
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-the-tamarind-tree-rosaliene-bacchus/1132984853?ean=9781684706488

BAM! Book-A-Million
https://www.booksamillion.com/product/9781684706488

Book Depository
https://www.bookdepository.com/Under-Tamarind-Tree-Rosaliene-Bacchus/9781684706488?ref=grid-view&qid=1566851557346&sr=1-3

Indie Bound: Community of Independent Local Bookstores
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781684706488

Blessings galore in one day!!!

Year 2018: Reflections

30 Sunday Dec 2018

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Year 2018 was filled with disappointments, self-doubt, and loss of direction. After completing my second novel, The Twisted Circle, in September 2017, I failed to grab the attention of literary agents or publishers.

“Not quite the right fit for us,” respondents said.

“You’re not good enough,” my inner critic said.

Drowning in self-doubt, I clung to the recognition that my yet-to-be-published first novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, had received when shortlisted for the 2014 Dundee International Book Prize.

Each attempt to get started on my third novel, to be set in Brazil, fizzled out. The Top Boss in the White House held my afflicted heart in his grip. My mind became a barren landscape of shifting sand dunes. In September, I abandoned my writing project.

Where do I go from here? The answer still evades me. Continue reading →

The Writing Life: Giving Thanks

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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Happy Thanksgiving 2017

At the end of May 2017, I received an unexpected request by e-mail from Vitor Rafael Siqueira de Araújo, a young poet, literature teacher, and freelance Portuguese/English translator in Roraima, North Brazil. His first poetry collection is due for publication in 2018.

With a bachelor’s degree in English and Portuguese literature from the University of Roraima, Vitor is currently enrolled in a postgraduate course in Translation Studies. Specializing in the translation of short stories, Vitor sought permission to translate one of my short stories.

I selected my most popular short story, The Ole Higue, published in July 2008 in the Guyana Journal (New York/USA). Considering that my short story contains dialog in Caribbean Creole English, Vitor’s project was very ambitious.

With its origins in West African mythology, the ole higue is an evil spirit that takes the form of an ugly, repulsive old woman that sucks the blood of her victims. She’s a witch and vampire wrapped in one package to scare disobedient kids like my seven-year-old character, Sammy. Some children have to feel before they listen.

For my Brazilian and other Portuguese language readers, Vitor’s translation, A Bruxa Velha is now available on his blog. Enjoy.

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks to Vitor Rafael Siqueira de Araújo for this unexpected present.

A happy Thanksgiving Day to all my American readers!