Posts filed under ‘Events’
I’m running for Mayor!
Here’s my draft logo for my campaign for Mayor of Pismo Beach.
Election Day Nov 8, 2016.
Thoughts from the Central Coast Writer’s Conference
It’s been more than 24 hours since the Central Coast Writer’s Conference 2015. I’m hoping that enough time has elapsed that I can succinctly convey the experience and all that I took away.
First let me say, it was my first writer’s conference and my first book fair. When I look at the photo of my little booth, I confess I cringe. Yet I share the pic with you because Chantelle Aimée Osman said in a workshop on writing Mystery, “Don’t hide your work.” I do that. I do just that. And I intend to change.
Getting set up for the book fair. Perfectionist that I am, I cringe a little, but there it is.
I fell quite by accident into the opportunity of judging the Golden Quills writing contest in three categories: Poetry, Flash Fiction and Short Fiction. My tit for tat for that labor of love was free entry to the conference, a place on two panel discussions, an invitation to the marvelous oceanfront, rooftop party for staff and presenters only, and a gratis table at the book fair. I’d say that I came out way ahead. Especially when it turned out that one of my fellow judges was English historical detective fiction author Anne Perry. I’m told I can use her name in my resumé. I’m not sure how that works, but then I freely admit, I’m new to this game.
My first panel discussion was at the boot camp for beginning writers. Christy Halsell, LeeAnne Krusemark and I were slated to talk about New Writing Technologies (Blogging and Twitter) from 1:30-2:00. Pulled together at 12:55, we were told, “You’re up now. Until 2.” With a precision teamwork that might have been orchestrated but which was utterly ad lib, we pulled it off with admirable aplomb. The key was to talk straight, keep it simple and then open up to questions. With a room of a hundred or so new writers, there were plenty of those.
The second panel discussion took place on the rooftop terrace where we’d partied the night before. The blue Pacific stretched without a ripple to a cloudless horizon. The sun blazed; the air was still and hot. Four women writers answered a few questions about “Finding Inspiration.” Verbose as we are, we managed to fill the hour. No questions from the audience, which I would have enjoyed. I quite adore speaking off the cuff.
When asked with whom we share our ideas, a fellow panelist confessed that she shares with no one out of fear of her ideas being stolen. I was so stunned by this concept that I probably went a little too far by saying that my books are so complex and so utterly me that I didn’t think anyone else could pull them off. Oh well, I am known for speaking my mind.
The book fair bombed. Foot traffic was sparse. The day was too hot. Anyone with any sense was at the beach. I did share my umbrella shade with a lively author named Corey Lynn Fayman whose good cheer and company made the time pass with laughs. Potential readers cruised by my voluminous books to finger his two thin novels. I heard him say over and over in just one little sentence, “These are mystery detective.” I saw him sell the thinnest.
Oh, how I envied that he said everything about his books in just those few words. Right then and there, I decided that no matter that I have ideas for three more books in my Red Mirror Series, the next book I write will be to a genre and skinny.
I have to give Jonathan Maberry special mention. He is the nicest successful author one could ever hope to meet. A teddy bear with huge heart. I ended up in his workshop “Horror Horror,” not because I have any talent for that genre, but because he was so engaging at the grand panel discussion that I simply wanted to be in the same room with him. The gods smiled on me, and I met him again at the rooftop party – a gathering tantamount to Mount Olympus for a novice like me. Elevated. Yes, I definitely felt elevated.
Three cheers for the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Thank you to Teri Bayus for her leadership and spunk. Yes, there were some hiccups and blemishes, but those are best mentioned in the evaluation form. I prefer to focus on the good, of which there was plenty to experience at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference 2015. Twitter #CCWC2015.
Central Coast Writer’s Conference
Teri Bayus Website
Jonathan Maberry Website
Corey Lynn Fayman Website
Chantelle Aimee Osman Website
LeeAnne Krusemark Facebook
Christy Halsell Website
Anne Perry Website
First Day of Spring and My Wedding Anniversary
March 20, 1975. Mexico City, Coyoacan. First Day of Spring. First Day of Marriage. I became Sandra Gore de Nielsen.
Here we are in a more contemplative moment. I wasn’t entirely sure of everything the judge was saying (very rapid Spanish), but I believe it was something about marriage being the only legitimate institution for the propagation of children.
An almost Greek symposium at the Malibu Getty
Malibu Getty Tasting of 4 wines created in clay amphorae in the ancient way. The wines came from Northern Italy, Sicily, Santorini (Greece) and Napa.
It wasn’t quite Mt. Olympus, but with very little imagination at the Malibu Getty on Jul 21, you could see yourself as a Greek aristocrat roaming the grounds of a lush villa, preparing for a wild drinking night at a classical Greek symposium (symposion).
At least, I had no problem projecting myself back 2500 years into Athena in Korinth, Greece with Hektor at Xenon’s pleasure villa by the sea.
Del Dotto 2009 Napa Valley Zinfandel ‘clay vessel fermented.’ LOVE this bottle.
We started out the evening at 5pm when the Getty Malibu Roman Villa Museum closed, and we gathered in the auditorium for a wonderful talk by historian Oswyn Murray of Oxford University. In the fine way that the Brits do so very well, Murray informed and entertained with his dry wit and rich display of images.
I felt great relief that the symposium I describe in Chapter 3 of Athena (The Egypt Trilogy) is right on target. There was a little dismay when Murray declared that food was served first and almost never during the Greek symposium (drinking party) itself. A conversation with him afterwards assured me that customs certainly varied, and that food could very well have been part of a symposium in Korinth in 200 BC Greece.
Whew! No need to rewrite Chapter 3 of Athena and remove all mention of “whole roast lamb appearing in an aromatic cloud of rosemary and garlic.”
Here’s a list of the wines served:
2001 Gravner Anfora Bianco Breg, Friuli-Venezia-Guilia, Italy
2009 Azienda Agricola COS Pithos, Sicily, Italy
2009 Del Dotto Clay Vessel Zinfandel, Napa Valley, California (see photo)
2010 Domaine Sigalas Asirtiko Athiri, Santorini, Greece
Unfortunately, our wine was not served in drinking cups such as this kylix on display at the Getty. Oh well…maybe in another life?
FEATURED EVENT SPEAKER: OswynMurray.org
My talk on Creativity and the 7 C’s – Life Choices: The Event Mar 25
I’m putting together the final touches on my talk in Las Vegas this weekend at Life Choices: The Event. I’ve developed something I call the 7 C’s of filling the canvas of your life. Creativity is just one of the C’s, but as we writers and artists know, it’s critical to everything that we do.
It’s always a surprise to hear that people don’t believe they are creative – and even more startling, that they don’t believe they can BE creative. I just can’t accept that. Everyone MUST be able to fire up their creativity, even if they can’t be on first name basis with the Muses as some lucky souls are.
What are my 7 C’s?
1. Choice. The decision to act. 1st choice: That you choose to act. 2nd choice: What you choose to do. 3rd choice: How you choose to make it happen.
2. Creativity. Fill the canvas of your life in your own special, unique way that’s not like anyone else. Copying is NOT one of my 7 C’s.
3. Craft. Your individual talents and skills impact your ability to manifest the ideas that spring from your creative inspiration.
4. Color. How warm or cool is your personality palette? How bold or how nuanced? Will you be shades of monochrome or a rainbow?
5. Courage. You can’t play it safe. Mistakes are good. That’s how we learn. Conquer not only fear of failure, but also of being different.
6. Commitment. Any long time goal requires re-committing every day. If you fall off the wagon, you got to get back on again. As Heraclitus said many centuries ago, “The sun is new each day.”
7. Craziness. You just can’t be too sane. You have to fly a little. “Crazy and proud of it!”
Our lives are like the blank canvas of a painter. Or the blank page of a writer. We’re given some basic tools to start out; some have more than others. But our choice is to paint how we want to live – or to let others do it for us. We can copy what someone has already done. We can even be masters at it.
But the White Moments, the bliss and the Zen come we are creating. That’s when we feel we are living more fully than during the rest of life. We feel good – good about the world and good about ourselves. We are full of hope.
The next part of my talk focuses on what you can do to be more creative. I’ll cover that in another post.
Launch date Mar 25, 2012
Sunday, March 25 is also the launch date of the fourth of the Life Choices Anthologies: It’s Never Too Late. My piece is called “Road to Vegas” where I talk about my journey to becoming a writer in the years when the peaks of my life might have been over. Instead, I’m having more fun, working harder and am more creative than I’ve ever been. Cheers to the Muses! May they sing forever in my ear.
Life Choices: The Event in Las Vegas at the Hotel Tropicana
Once in while, not often, quite rarely in fact, a person comes into your life who shakes things up. Sometimes you don’t realize it at the time, but only when you look back from a new place, do you see the change. The shift might have been that subtle. But because of them, you made a life choice that set you on a new path.
Judi Moreo did that for me. Her belief in me and her words, You are more than enough, kept me going when I might have given up. Now you have a chance to meet Judi and hear her message in Las Vegas in March. And as a special little treat, you can hear me too! 🙂
Yes, I’ll be speaking on the same program as Judi Moreo. I can hardly believe it myself. So many dreams coming true! But I wouldn’t be sharing this great weekend with Judi and the other authors of “Life Choices: It’s Never Too Late” or with the keynote speakers Jeff Civillico, Anne Abernathy, Casey McNeal, Tim Goodenough and Aimmee Kodachian if I hadn’t made the choice to accept. I could have given in to my fears and doubts and said “no.”
The day I decided to speak at Life Choices: The Event, I had a nightmare. I dreamed I walked through the doors at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas and could think of nothing to say. My mind was a complete blank. Of course, I woke up in a sweat. Of course, it meant I have stage fright. I hope you won’t see that on March 25th. 🙂
If you are struggling with finding your life purpose – if you feel disappointed in what you’ve achieved – if you’ve always wanted to do something, but never dared – ACT NOW! Come to Las Vegas in March. Spend the weekend with people who have changed their lives, who have fulfilled their dreams – and with others who want the same thing, but aren’t quite sure how to go about it.
It costs a little money and effort. Most things of value do. But if you register before Jan 31, you’ll get a big discount and the chance to bring a friend at a fraction of the fee. You can pay a small deposit now and the remainder in installments. You’ll even get fed! There’s a welcome reception, a Saturday lunch and a Sunday brunch included. You can lunch with one of the Life Choices authors and have the chance to talk with them personally about the choices they made in their lives that got them where they are today.
Register Now! Get the Super Early Bird discount and bring a friend. Go to this link: Life Choices: The Event
Please use PYPSN in the speaker code box so I’ll be notified you signed up. 
note: The Hotel Tropicana has been recently renovated. It’s beautiful! All in white.
Sex and Zen of Shopping radio interview Monday July 18
I’ll be doing a fun radio interview on Sex and the Zen of Shopping with Michelle Phillips, radio hostess, celebrity make-up artist, life coach and author. Woo Hoo. We should have a ball talking about the mysteries of the Universe and how they relate to shopping and self-esteem.
Michelle’s radio show is “The Beauty Blueprint”
LIVE at www.hayhouseradio.com
Time and Date: Next Monday, July 18 at 12:35 EDT, 9:35 am PDT
If you miss it, you can listen any time during the week after at this link: http://www.hayhouseradio.com/show_details.php?show_id=216&episode_type=0.
I’d love for you to tune in “live,” but there’s always the archive if you can’t. The show will only be available from July 18th thru the 25th, so if you want to listen, tune in during that week.
HAYHOUSE Radio is billed as “radio for your soul.” Denise Linn, spiritual coach and Feng Shui master, is one of the many turned on and high-level consciousness radio hosts. HAYHOUSE Radio also has outlets in the UK, Australia and India.
Michelle Phillips, radio show hostess, celebrity make-up artist, life coach, author, speaker, wife and mother
Michelle Phillips is just another multi-talented, dynamic, beautiful wife, mother and superstar! Sigh. Are you green with envy yet? OK – Here’s the whammy: Her new book “The Beauty Blueprint” is due out soon. Go girls! We are good!
Check her out at: www.michellephillips.com and Michele Phillips Fan Page.
And don’t forget to tune in to our interview: Sex and the Zen of Shopping. Woo Hoo!
Book launch! Life Choices: Pursuing Your Passion
I haven’t been here in a while, but I haven’t been idle. Libya, women’s issues and nuclear have been occupying my time on twitter and on my other blog, www.sandraoffthestrip.com.
Now it’s time to announce the book launch in Las Vegas of the newest in the Life Choices anthologies, Life Choices: Pursuing Your Passion. Twenty-six great authors and speakers got together to produce a collection of amazing life stories of sacrifice, dedication and hard work to achieve personal goals.
Judi Moreo of Turning Point International edited and published the Life Choices series: Navigating Difficult Paths, Putting the Pieces Together and Pursuing Your Passion.
“The Muses Whisper” is my own personal journey from ordinary (well, kind of) person to writer, author and novelist. It’s also a statement of my hope that the muses continue to sing in my ear.
Look for my story in the first Life Choices book, Navigating Difficult Paths. “A True Love Story” is a wild tale of chasing my man across continents and how that odyssey turned into a fairy tale. Knights in shining armor do exist!
The launch is at the Tropicana Hotel, Saturday June 11 in the Monte Cristo Room from 10am – 4pm.
Authors will be speaking throughout the day and available for book signings. They’ll also have their other books, tapes and courses on hand for sale.
First Reader copies of Ancient Egypt Novel Athena of the Red Mirror Series
I got the the First Reader Edition copies of my ancient egypt novel Athena of Kornith of the Red Mirror Trilogy from the printer. Hurray! I’m getting them out to my inner circle of First Readers for input. I hope they like her. I sure do. I’d like to be her!
Every Woman’s Dream
Life Choices: Pursuing Your Passion
Turning Point International's new book
Turning Point International will release yet another “Life Choices” anthology in March 2011. I’m happy to say that I’ll be a contributing author once again.
With the title, “Pursing Your Passion,” it shouldn’t be hard to guess that my contribution, “The Muses Whisper,” is insight into how I found my passion – writing romantic, sexy and edgy historical adventures. I hope it’s also a statement about how it’s never too late to follow your dream.
The book launch will be in Las Vegas March 11. I look forward to meeting with the other 25 authors, who all have great personal stories about pursuing their own passions.
If this Life Choices book is anything like the previous two, each story, like each contributor, will be unique. I love working with such inspirational, dynamic people who have made their Life Choice to follow their dreams.
Hopeless Romantic Shares True Love Story
Click image to view Fun Press Release for Sandra Gore Nielsen
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Here’s a Fun Press Release about me from the Virtual Book Tour of “Life Choices” www.expertclick.com.
Here’s how we celebrate St Pat’s Day at my house.
Jesper Nielsen and Sandra Gore Nielsen(s) Irish Jig on JibJab
Rollover and click the image.
It will take you to a JibJab ecard
with music and dance.
Life Choices Las Vegas Book Launch Celebration
Most of the 26 authors, publisher and editor with friends and family celebrated the successful launch of Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths in the Nielsen suite at Palace Station Las Vegas. After a memorable day of book sales and mini-talks by each of the authors, the Life Choices group relaxed and debriefed with wine and goodies – a great way to top off a great day.
Contributing authors Bob Walker and Sandra Gore Nielsen
Contributing authors Sandy Kastel and Andrea Chestnut
Contributing author Deborah Clark with Paulette White
Host Rex Nielsen, Jesper Nielsen of Tajine Publishing with contributing author Stephen Philpott
President Ange Milburn, Sandra Gore Nielsen Fan Club
First Reader and featured shopper, Barb Johnston - Sex and the Zen of Shopping
Interview for Life Choices Pump Up Virtual Book Tour
Thank you to Pump Up Your Book. Here is the interview I did for their virtual book tour promotion of Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths published by Turning Point International.
My Wichita Southeast High School graduation picture 1965
Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?
A: I daydreamed constantly as a child, inventing whole new worlds for myself. This lasted well into my teens when my device for falling asleep each night was a cinematic adventure I played out in my mind with myself the beautiful and desirable heroine in some far off place in another time.
Creative writing was always my forte in school. I especially remember one short story in high school about a football player scoring a touchdown which, when read aloud to the class, was declared by all that it could only have been written by an athlete. That was never me. I’m afraid of balls.
Do you remember your first published piece?
A: I certainly do remember my first published piece. It’s “A True Love Story” in Life Choices – Navigating Difficult Paths.
What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?
A: The most frustrating part is getting noticed. The most rewarding part is getting noticed.
Jesper, my husband of 35 years
Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life? Do you have support?
A: I am most happily married for 35 years. Of late, my home life has become my writing life and vice versa. My husband is my biggest supporter and has become a publisher and publicist to help both publish and promote Sex and the Zen of Shopping, my first book. He is also encouraging me to write my memoir and says to put in all the good sex – and not just with him.
What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing? Where do you like to vacation? Can you tell us briefly about this?
A: I love to shop, travel and entertain. Basically I need to be on the move constantly, whether physically or intellectually. I can be alone and write for days on end; then I explode and have to cook an elaborate meal, set a beautiful table and enjoy the company of good friends.
I’m not sure I know what a vacation is. Traveling is how I live in the now. I used to require traveling to a place where they speak another language or I didn’t feel like I had been anywhere. I certainly don’t want to see the same restaurants and eat the same kind of food. But of late I enjoy reconnecting with old friends, who may or may not live in exotic places.
If you could be anywhere in the world for one hour right now, where would that place be and why?
A: I’d be back in Egypt on the Nile in the Rose Suite at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, sitting on the balcony overlooking Elephantine Island, watching the boat traffic and listening to the sounds of the river. Do I really need to explain why?
Who is your biggest fan?
A: My husband.
Where’s your favorite place to write at home?
View from my house
A: At my dining room table with a view out the picture windows onto the Pacific Ocean.
Library of Alexandria
What’s your favorite library and why?
A: The New Library of Alexandria because of the wonderful coalescence of ancient iconography with modern architecture.
What’s your favorite bookstore and why?
A: Any used book store. I love getting books for cheap, but I especially love finding all those eclectic, out of print treasures that you didn’t even know existed.
Do you have any pets?
A: Not now, but if I did, it would be cats – black ones.
Max
What are you reading right now?
A: Just about any book written by women for women that is a best seller or close to it. I’m reading all genres, but particularly romance and memoirs, trying to figure out if I can write something that will actually sell.
Tell us a secret no one else knows.
A: I don’t think so. It wouldn’t be a secret any more. If it’s worth telling and at all interesting, I want to put it in my next book.
What’s the first thing you notice when you meet someone?
A: Their energy field. Sometimes I feel like I see right past the body, although body language tells you almost everything.
Have you ever won anything?
A: Do elections count? I garnered a big percent of the vote out of a field of candidates for School Board. After that, I lost more votes (on the School Board) than I won. That’s what happens when you are on the side of the students.
What’s on your to do list today?
A: Complete this Interview Form. Continue working on the Press Kit for my website http://www.sandragorenielsen.com to promote Sex and the Zen of Shopping. Work on my next book which will be a memoir recounting my travels in North Africa, including a 6 month hitchhiking adventure across the Sahara. Post an article on my blog www.sandraoffthestrip.com. Make a lamb and bean tajine for dinner. Take a walk along the raging ocean. Take a long bubble bath.
I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in February/March via a virtual book tour. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?
A: You have to have a presence everywhere you can, but the internet is where it’s happening. It will only grow. Virtual book tours are one of the ways that you have a chance to break through if you’re not connected to one of the big publishing houses that have things sewn up in the conventional channels of distribution and publicity.
S. L. Gore 