dianneP
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Surprisingly Useful Things I Learned from Incredibly Dodgy Spam (So You Don’t Have To)No. 3
Your Book Has Been Selected for Our Book Club! (Please Send Money.) I’m opening the bombs so you don’t have to. Surprisingly Useful Things I Learned (we can learn) from Incredibly Dodgy Spam. The Incredibly Dodgy Email There are few things an author would rather hear than that a group of enthusiastic readers has chosen…
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A Beautiful Sight in Monrovia
This morning, I came across this wonderful display of American flags in Monrovia, honoring our veterans. And I just loved it. The flags waving in the sunshine, the beautiful old trees, and that big, cheerful THANK YOU VETERANS sign. I found myself unexpectedly moved. There’s something extraordinary about people who are willing to sacrifice so much for…
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Phooey
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Falling for Your Book All Over Again: All Treats, No Tricks
Halloween is here, which means it’s time for costumes, candy, and pretending we aren’t going to eat the Reese’s Cups before the trick-or-treaters arrive. I’m particularly good at that last one, although my credibility tends to disappear somewhere around the third peanut butter cup. This year, we’ve decided to hand out something a little different…
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Surprisingly Useful Things I Learned from Incredibly Dodgy Spam (So You Don’t Have To)No. 2
Is Amazon Hiding Your Book? No. But Can Readers Find It? I’m opening the bombs so you don’t have to. Surprisingly Useful Things I Learned (we can learn) from Incredibly Dodgy Spam. The Incredibly Dodgy Email Apparently, Amazon has a secret department devoted to finding problems with my books, and its employees are terribly concerned…
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Watching
watching, intransitive verb We’re watching when we’re spying we’re watching when we’re afraid we’re watching the twisting train wreck we just can’t look away we’re watching for the sun to push down the moon we’re searching for a pleasant thought to push away the gloom we’re watching for the stranger looking us in the eye…
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It’s Lit Mag Week!
This week, we’re celebrating #LitMagWeek and the independent literary magazines that make room for new voices, strange ideas, experiments, risks, and work that might not fit neatly anywhere else. Current Words Publishing is proud to sponsor Instant Noodles Literary Magazine, curated by the Old Scratch Press Collective. And because we believe that literary magazines should create…
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Current Words Publishing and Old Scratch Press Congratulate 2026 Best of the Net Nominees
by Robert Fleming Best of the Net 2026 Nominees Visual Art selections by Robert Fleming and Alan Bern Andy Gordon, Car Side View Mirrors Joseph Barbella, Horse Power Robert Fleming, Frozen Sanctuary Creative Non-Fiction selections by Nadja Maril Tamara-Lee Brereton-Karabetsos, From Cage to Street Patty Perreault Bennett, Our Christmas Surprise Fiction / Flash Fiction selections by…
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Where Did You Find Your Editor?
Often in the late spring or early fall parents on tours around the college campus would pass me as I went from class to class. The tour guides, some of whom had been my students, would say, “We never use adjuncts or part-time teachers here. All of our faculty are full-time.” Huh, really? That’s what…
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Loneliness: One of Life’s Strangest Contradictions
We spend much of our lives searching for connection. Friendships. Family. Romance. Community. We want to know that someone sees us, understands us, and is glad we’re here. Yet after enough disappointment or heartbreak, something curious can happen. Solitude begins to feel safer than closeness, and the walls we built to protect ourselves become increasingly…
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Vicissitude
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Pumpkin Spice? I Don’t Think So.
So what scares you? That’s really the question. Maybe you want something Gothic and atmospheric. Maybe you prefer monsters. Maybe you like your horror funny. Maybe blood doesn’t bother you, but the suggestion that there is something standing just outside the bedroom doorabsolutely does. Maybe what frightens you isn’t supernatural at all. That’s the beauty of…
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Surprisingly Useful Things I Learned from Incredibly Dodgy Spam (So You Don’t Have To)
#1: Readers Aren’t Searching Your Book Title. Why I’m Opening the Bombs…. I get a lot of spam. Some of it is ordinary spam. Some of it is publishing spam, which is its own peculiar species. These emails tend to begin with flattering observations about a book, an author, or my company and end, eventually,…
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Why Is Current Words Publishing on TikTok?
When most people think of TikTok, they think of dance videos, recipes, or adorable pets. But over the past few years, it has also become one of the world’s largest communities of readers. That’s why we’re there. Our TikTok channel is another way to introduce readers to the wonderful books our authors have written. You’ll…
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ARC Readers: We Have Something Special for You!
Dr. Bertina M. Hooks has lived more than one life. She’s a physician, healthcare executive, entrepreneur, mother, and disability advocate. In 2022, a life-threatening medical crisis put her on the other side of the physician-patient relationship and resulted in the loss of her right leg below the knee. Now she’s telling the story in From Fire…
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Instant Noodles Volume 6, Issue 2: AL DENTE is live!
The newest issue of Instant Noodles Lit Mag is officially out in the world. AL DENTE brings together poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, photography, and multimedia from writers and artists around the world, all responding in their own wonderfully clever and beguiling ways to a theme that started with two little words: al dente. The result is funny, sharp, surprising,…
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Have a Writing Question? Bring It to the Chat.
One of the reasons we created the Current Words Publishing Subscriber Chat is simple: writers have questions, and those questions don’t always need to wait for the next blog post. Maybe you’re wondering whether you should self-publish or pursue traditional publishing. Perhaps you’re trying to figure out Amazon keywords, book reviews, editing, cover design, ISBNs,…
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Wondering About A Book I Once Knew
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What’s New On Substack?
The final installment of our Can I Do That? copyright series is now available. In Part Four, we look at a question every author should understand: How do you protect your own copyright? We’ll cover when copyright begins, why registration matters, when it makes sense to register, and why understanding your rights is an important part of…
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A New Series for Poets at Old Scratch Press
