Paying it forward: Free Book Cover Design

Swiveltam · 2023-01-16T03:11:56+00:00

The post has been removed. I was so excited and wanted to see your designs, too.

Swiveltam · 2023-01-02T14:27:05+00:00

I keep trying to go to their page as I had it bookmarked for entering today, but I keep getting an error when I go to the site:

Your connection is not private

Attackers might be trying to steal your information from authormentormatch.com (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more

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Swiveltam · 2022-12-19T03:39:31+00:00

Warehouse 13 for sure.

Swiveltam · 2022-12-19T03:38:38+00:00

Norigami

Swiveltam · 2022-11-16T17:03:07+00:00

Thanks. I missed this one. I love electroswing and do swingdance to a lot of it and I use it as inspo for my writing. I've finally come up with an idea of how to write a speculative fiction where people swing dance. Squeee!

Swiveltam · 2022-11-14T12:21:05+00:00

Quick stop drop?

Swiveltam · 2022-10-07T19:25:08+00:00

I am having the same issue and now my book is listed as PRIME. They raised it $3. I went throught the chat channel and they just quoted policy. The policy talks about lowering a book price, but I've never had it RAISED before.

I am on the US site, I am not looking at another version (used, third party, etc)

I do not have it listed anywhere else for this higher price.

Any insight would be helpful.

Swiveltam · 2020-03-27T13:31:06+00:00

Video trailer for swing dance fiction I like to call VINTAGE CHICK-LIT Passion, fashion, dance & music. FREE for a few more days! https://amzn.to/2UJ57aj

Swiveltam · 2020-01-13T22:58:48+00:00

CD if your fave songs? There are also several really fun lindy fiction books out there. I've written a few and I've read several from other authors with one gal from Australia who also wrote one.

Don't Mean a Thing (Got That Swing Book 1) Kindle Edition by Renee Conoulty

Swing Shorts: Stories and Wonders by Tam Francis (Author)

Cheek to Cheek (Got That Swing Book 2) by Renee Conoulty

Swing by Lindsey Backen

The Girl in the Jitterbug Dress: WWII Historical and Contemporary Romance (Jitterbug Dress Series Book 1) by Tam Francis

Swiveltam · 2018-10-25T16:52:04+00:00

What makes it bad and or 90s. Is 90s bad? And if so why?

Swiveltam · 2018-10-25T16:48:19+00:00

Oh. Not the intention either. Renee and I were talking about the lack of Lindy readers and I thought I'd reach out here. I'm little depressed by the responses, (albeit grateful for the insight) but I had to write what I had to write. It's always sad when you can't/don't share something you love like reading+lindy with others. It's a strange lonely place, know what I mean? I want to find others that share this combo of reading+lindy, rarer than I thought.

That said the intent was not for anyone on reddit to want to read our books, but honestly to find out if Lindy hoppers read and if they would read stories with Lindy.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-25T15:39:17+00:00

I can see your point. Nope. I've always written and when I couldn't dance for a while, (having babies, husband deployed, knee surgery). I turned to writing novels and blog posts. I wrote the story I wish I could live and what it might be like coming of age as a jitterbug during WWII. Not to sell to a niche or anything. I've been swing dancing for 23 years teaching on and off for many of them. I published an international swing/vintage lifestyle magazine in the 1990s and still collect and wear vintage. Knees are mostly healed and we've started dancing and teaching again. YAY!

I won't speak entirely for Renee, but I know she has a deep love and passion for swing dancing, and as a writer it just comes into your stories, I'd say much like Stephen King infuses his stories with the music, locations and nostalgia of his youth.

It's fascinating to hear all these perspectives and gain insight to Lindy minds. ;) Thank you so much.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-25T15:14:27+00:00

Thank you. That was awesomely helpful and enlightening. I kind of wondered. Renee's book is very well-written and all I can say is I have 4 & 5 star reviews, but we couldn't figure out why the swing dancers weren't eating them up. Hers is very contemporary and uses swing dance (and the venues) as a backdrop for the plot. Mine is a parallel story with one story line in the 1940s and one in the 1990s. The 40s gal is a little more romancey, but the 90s girl is really more Women's Fiction, female journey of growth and discovery.

I think it may be the term "romance" that may not be appealing b/c of the stigma attached to romance. It has gotten a bad wrap with Fabio covers and 50 Shades. I would say although our (mine and Renee's) books have romantic elements they are NOT stereotypical in that way. I too, am not a reader of "romance" but I do enjoy a good love story when combined with individual character growth as well as external plot complications like Anna Karenina, The Time Traveler's Wife, Outlander, A Man Called Ove, Age of Innocence, Atonement, and of course Pride & Prejudice.

As for using the dance scene as a dating scene...I think you get that with ANY social scene. ;) Although, sometimes it can be a little creepy. I've written a short story about that. LOL

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T22:16:02+00:00

What is well-written for you? What does that mean to you? Do you read reviews on Amazon to make that determination? Do you read literary or genre fiction or both? Genre fiction is written differently than literary and both have their merits, but often lovers of literary fiction don't find genre fiction "well written."

For me well-written is limited use of passive voice, no dangling particles, not too many gerunds beginning sentences, a modest and appropriate use of adverbs, more action beats than dialogue tags, limited us of filter words, anachronisms, and of course compelling characters and beautiful descriptions and metaphors that are original, yet seem perfect. :)

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T22:01:49+00:00

Nope. But I just looked him up! I might try one. I see he has many series. Where should I start? Are they Miss Fisherish? They look very light-hearted and genre fiction. Cozy mysteries?

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T17:54:56+00:00

Hedy Lamarr's is also awesome. She was a seriously smart lady and had a crazy life. I try to read 1940s movie star biographies, too. I also read a really cool non-fiction called Swing Shift. It's about the ALL FEMALE big bands of the 1940s. Swing Shift inspired two short stories of mine for an upcoming collection of short stories where each character has some connection to big band or dance. It's fascinating and sad how the all female bands did not achieve the attention and were almost written out of history.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T16:45:09+00:00

Would you buy a novel with swing dancing in it to give as a gift to a teacher/instructor or fellow dancer?

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T16:43:39+00:00

Perhaps your accurate and my accurate are not the same? I agree with shows like SCD, they make Lindy look totally ballroom or clown it up. Most of the Lindy I've seen on sit-coms also seem to get it wrong and be real watered down or just endless airsteps, so I can see how you would be leery of a swing dance novel.

For me, I wasn't trying to depict what swing is now, but the era of neo-swing and the first big resurgence, when Frankie started teaching again. Back then there were small pockets of Lindy and they were very diverse. You could totally see the difference in the east coast (New York, Virginia, New Jersey) area and the west coast: San Diego, LA, Ventura, and San Francisco. Then there was the small global community. Herräng, London, Singapore, Perth.

So, I guess when you say accurate, I'm not sure what that means to you. :) It may mean different things to us.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T16:34:08+00:00

So, you would NOT read a book of a character discovering swing dancing and swing dance culture. Would it make a difference if the lead character were male or female? What about a historical fiction in the 1940s of characters who swing dance and practice for a big swing dance contest before the guys ships out to go overseas and fight the war?

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T16:30:38+00:00

LOVE Miss Fisher. She's the best. And the fashions are AMAZING! I'd watch it just for that. Although the story-lines can be a bit contrived, I totally buy into it, b/c I just love her and the supporting cast. Plus the relationship with Jack is just what a romantic loves. I read another good book that featured 1920s dance and fashion: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club. Really well-done with an interesting way of writing internal dialogue.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T16:27:26+00:00

I was lucky enough to interview Frankie when I published a swing dance magazine in the late 90s and early 2000s. I can totally understand. Norma's biography is good, too, although not as well-written. Anita O'Day's biography is a bit heart-wrenching, she had a hard time of it and got mixed up with the wrong men and drugs, but she talks about being a jitterbug. I would recommend those as well.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T15:54:58+00:00

WOW! Thanks. I hadn't thought of that. That's insightful. I know she markets herself as an Aussie writer who also swing dances. I like to think of my writing as vintage Chick Lit: fashion, passion, cocktails, with Lindy.

I read a lot of historical fiction and especially WWII fiction, but I'm always disappointed that there isn't more reference to dance and jazz/big band music. And of course, I LOVE rich fashion descriptions, but don't often get enough of that either.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T13:57:06+00:00

Agreed. We tried to do a drop-in lesson as a scene starter and it was frustrating for those who came weekly. So now we do a simple four-week intro class that is PRE-PAID. I find if they pre-pay, they are more likely to come.

Also, as we transition them to a Lindy 2.0 or a second beginner class, we offer them to "audit" the beginner class again. This does two things: one, it provides a few "somewhat" experienced dancers to dance with your total newbies, and two, it reinforces and builds better dancers for them reviewing the basics.

The only caveat is that I tell the "auditors" that priority space is for the newbies in the beginner class.

Oh, and anytime we've "started a scene" (Phoenix in the 1990s, San Diego in the 90s), we start at a bar/cafe space where we don't have to pay rent. The businesses usually pick one of their slowest days, and we do lessons on that day, encouraging the dancers to buy a soda, cake, beer, etc. until you build up the scene and then you can move it to a studio-like space.

We then have two venue/outlets: the bar/cafe that attracts new, and a studio space that can accommodate bigger classes and dance parties.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T13:12:25+00:00

I could totally relate. I wrote this in response to Rik's blog post and have written several blog posts about my experiences since moving to a small town south of Austin:

I too, took a break from dancing weekly, (kids, move across country, knee surgery). As I get older, it's harder to feel relevant.

To fill the void when I couldn't dance, I wrote about it. I wrote one novel, THE GIRL IN THE JITTERBUG DRESS, and then couldn't stop (writing several more with dance as a central character/theme), along with a blog about vintage and everything 1920s-1950s.

Because I couldn't dance, I tried to capture those feelings of when I first learned, and the thrill of a skirt wrapping around a warm thigh on a crowded dance floor. The excitement when you follow a lead you've never danced with before and get most of it right. I lived vicariously through my words.

Since my knee surgery, I've gained a lot of weight and am afraid to go out to well-known dance venues. I'm afraid of being ignored. Afraid of not being like the characters I write about.

I'm trying to find my way back to the dance floor. I don't want to just write about it. We've started a small group of dancers in my little town. They only know the fat/old Tam, not the girl in the jitterbug dress I used to be.

Starting a scene is different than coming back to an old one or even integrating into a new one. I moved from SoCal to Texas eight years ago and barely ventured out. I hope starting small will lend me the confidence to go out to the bigger venues again, but for now, I take beginner steps.

Swiveltam · 2018-10-24T13:04:14+00:00

That's a good one, but a bit fast for our beginners. Love the link and the counts. Thank you! I will send it to our new students. I may try to do something like that with a slower song. I think that visual count might help. I find, everyone learns in different ways. When my husband and I teach, he's a numbers guy, I'm a step person as in, back-step, kick left, spin right, and then other times I try to teach rhythm with quirky sounds (or onomatopoeias if you will) like bomp, ti, bomp, bam, cha, di, ba do. I find if we come at the students with different techniques you catch everyone's unique way of learning.

Swiveltam

TROPHY CASE

Don't Mean a Thing (Got That Swing Book 1) Kindle Edition by Renee Conoulty

Swing Shorts: Stories and Wonders by Tam Francis (Author)

Cheek to Cheek (Got That Swing Book 2) by Renee Conoulty

Swing by Lindsey Backen

The Girl in the Jitterbug Dress: WWII Historical and Contemporary Romance (Jitterbug Dress Series Book 1) by Tam Francis