On the fourteenth anniversary of Shalako Publishing and Long Cool One Books, Louis Shalako shares his thoughts on the world of independent, digital publishing, its joys, its pitfalls, and what one can accomplish with a little grit, a little imagination, and perhaps a bit of an attitude. From quiet contemplation comes chaos. Good advice, if one can take it.

"Your life isn't over." My dad says this. "I mean, YOUR life isn't over. Beyond the kids. You'll go on living, doing things. This isn't it." I know, I assure him. I have the kids. They need me. They're my life now. "OK," he replies, then grunts—more of a brief hum. He only hums when he thinks I'm full of shit. Shockingly single. Amy Biancolli's life went off script more dramatically than most after her husband of twenty years jumped off the roof of a parking garage. Left with three children, a three-story house, and a pile of knotty psychological complications, Amy realizes the flooding dishwasher, dead car battery, rapidly growing lawn, basement sump pump, and broken doorknob aren't going to fix themselves. She also realizes that "figuring shit out" means accepting the horrors that came her way, rolling with them, slogging through them, helping others through theirs, and working her way through life with love and laughter. Amy Biancolli is an author and journalist whose column appears in the Albany Times Union. Before that, Amy served as film critic for the Houston Chronicle where her reviews, published around the country, won her the 2007 Comment and Criticism Award from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Association. Biancolli is the author of House of Holy Fools: A Family Portrait in Six Cracked Parts, which earned her Albany Author of the Year. Amy lives in Albany, New York, with her three children.

“Equal parts motivation and inspiration . . . Bite-size, easy-to-read chapters coach new writers through everything from imposter syndrome to writer’s block.” —The Writer I Should Be Writing is everything you’d hope to find in a writing workshop, condensed into one highly effective journal. It’s time to stop dreaming about what you want to write and finally do it! Let award-winning podcaster Mur Lafferty, who in the past has interviewed authors including John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman, Gail Carriger, Adam Christopher, and Kameron Hurley, guide you through the nuts-and-bolts process of honing your craft, including which writing myths to ignore, how to refine your creative process, listening to your inner muse while ignoring your inner bully, and more. This book also contains writing exercises that will help the blossoming writer strengthen the writer’s muscle of writing every day. These include everything from situational writer’s prompts to lists of ideas writers should try to jot down between writing sessions. With this helpful guide, you can make the phrase, “I’ve always wanted to write a story . . .” a thing of the past. Because you should be writing!

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.

Loretta D’Angelo doesn’t want to get married. Being dumped by her fiancé just months before her wedding was fine with her. She loves her life as a single woman in New York City, indulging in gourmet ice-cream, getting the occasional mud-mask facial, and working for a tacky talk show that specializes in screaming and scrapping among its philandering guests. If only she could tune out her pushy family and their constant match-making attempts. Josh Kaplan has no interest in getting married, either, although maybe he ought to. He’s been with his girlfriend Melanie for years, but for some reason he just hasn’t felt the urge to pop the question. He’s busy fighting for tenants’ rights and playing chess with his elderly friend Solly, who’s got women problems of his own. Melanie is busy, too, although what she’s busy with, Josh isn’t sure. When Loretta’s job suddenly hinges on her being hooked up with a blind date on the show, Josh is the ideal foil. He has no more interest in a romance than she does. He’s got Melanie. And if Loretta pretends he’s her boyfriend, her family will get off her case. What could possibly go wrong?

One night. Two paths. Infinite danger. On the night of the big spring break party, seventeen-year-old Hadley "borrows" her boyfriend Ben's car without telling him. As payback, he posts a naked picture of her online for the entire senior class to see. Now Hadley has a choice. She can go back to the party and force Ben to delete the picture. Or she can raise the stakes and take his beloved car on a road trip as far away from their hometown of Oak Grove, Ohio, as she can get. Each storyline plays out in alternating chapters. In one strand, Hadley embarks on a reckless adventure with her best friends, spinning the perfect plan for revenge. In the other, stuck in a car with her ex-boyfriend, Josh, she's forced to revisit the mistakes they each made, including whether they should ever have broken up at all. As events of a wild night race toward an explosive conclusion, old feelings are rekindled, friendships are tested, and secrets uncovered that are so much worse than a scandalous photo. A Million Times Goodnight is a fast-paced romantic contemporary thriller ripped right from the headlines.

There is a pissed-off mood abroad in Britain; the zeitgeist is a bad mood. This book captures that mood. It looks at stuff which irritates us, drives us mad, saps our souls like vampires.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). “Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”

Oliver Hurst has always been abnormally normal. His grades are horrible, his best friend just left for Utah, and he's depressed. His overly religious parents don’t help, especially since they control every facet of his life. One stupid sentence said in desperation gets Oliver tossed in an adolescent psych ward, where his depression and fears become even more of a reality. When Oliver meets snide, tough girl Lacey Waters he doesn't think his life could get any better, that is, until she becomes the ray of sunshine he has desperately needed on his cloudiest of days. young adult romance, teen romance, teen contemporary romance, young adult contemporary romance, sweet teen romance, sweet young adult romance, teen mental health, teen depression fiction, young adult free romance, young adult free contemporary romance, free young adult romance, free teen romance, free teen contemporary romance

Trading strategies always look great on paper. But when it comes to trading in the real world, market chaos and human unpredictability often make even the best strategies seem inadequate to the task. The hard truth all traders eventually learn is that trading is far more difficult when your chips are down and the pressure is on. In the tradition of Edwin Lefèvre’s legendary book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Don Miller’s Chronicles of a Million Dollar Trader offers an inside look at the ups and downs, failures and victories of one of the few traders to have ever earned $1 million in a calendar year by trading futures intraday. In this detailed journal, Miller lets you peek over his shoulder as he tiptoes through a minefield of potential mistakes, miscalculations, and self-defeating behaviors in search of consistent profits. Along the way, he shares trading diary excerpts from 2008 to 2012, as well as his actual performance for every futures trading day from 2004 to 2011—almost 2,000 days worth of real trading results and analysis. You’ll follow along as the challenge of everyday trading teaches Miller the importance of focus, motivation, controlled aggression, and just showing up—especially on those mornings he’d rather sleep in. As you track his progress hour by hour and day by day through the journal, you’ll see how he recognizes his strengths and weaknesses, reaches or falls short of his daily goals, analyzes his results, and applies everything he learns to future trades, including valuable insights gleaned from sports, poker, and life. If you’re thinking of quitting your day job to be a full-time trader, Miller offers a clear-eyed look at what you’re getting into. His path to success was rocky, with ecstatic highs interspersed with intermittent setbacks. Despite his well-crafted plan, his intelligence, and his dedication, Miller began his trading career the way so many others do—with losses due to a lack of training and a poor business plan. Though he learned his lesson, ate his humble pie, and got back into the game successfully, there’s no reason for you to repeat his mistakes. Chronicles of a Million Dollar Trader reveals how successful trading is about much more than reading charts, because you’re not just playing the numbers—you’re competing against the markets, other traders, and yourself. Much like a sport, winning is the result of good planning, practice, and execution, and if you’re not on your game, then you’re already on your way to losing. If you’re a full-time trader, part-time trader, or just considering becoming one, this insightful, revealing look inside Miller’s mind offers vital lessons on how to trade like a champion.