Nancy E Randolph - Blog

Join Story Time at Norway Memorial Library April 19 at 10am.

3/16/2023

Join Norma Kimball Salway on April 19th at 10 a.m. at Norway Memorial Library for a very special Story Time! Norma will be reading her children's book, My Maine School Bus Driver.

Norma is a parent, grandparent, and graduate of the University of Southern Maine. She retired from teaching in 2009 after a long career of teaching children from four to seven years old. When she's not writing books, Norma loves to kayak, garden, antique, and craft. Her children and extended family bring her joy and happiness every day.

My Maine School Bus Driver follows a school bus driver on his route and helps students realize that bus drivers are people, too. It emphasizes the importance of responsibility in helping to keep the bus and its riders safe. Rick Charette, a songwriter and children's entertainer, said that the book "weaves a delightful story about a year in the life of a bus and its driver in a coastal town in the State of Maine. The book features playful illustrations by Norma Salway with an engaging storyline. I absolutely, positively enjoyed this book."

Come join Norma and the Norway Memorial Library for a fantastic Story Time and a chance to hear My Maine School Bus Driver!

Just Write Books LLC, offers publishing consulting and coaching for writers. JWB uses its proprietary High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.

Norma Salway visits Windham Public Library with "I Can Hear the Music"

3/8/2023

I Can Hear the Music by Norma Kimball Salway

Norma Kimball Salway

Just Write Books is pleased to announce an upcoming book talk featuring author Norma Kimball Salway at the Windham Public Library on April 5 from 6-7 p.m.

Norma Salway will be discussing her book, I Can Hear the Music, which offers respite to those of us who are feeling overwhelmed with worry about our friends, family, and the world. In her book, Norma shares her own losses, and how she has been able to find solace in music. She encourages us to make time to listen to music, even when we are hurting, and to take the next step when we are nearly too weary to get out of bed.

I Can Hear the Music inspires readers to find comfort in knowing that someone just like them can come out on the other side of grief, and offers hope that we too can get through tough times.

We invite you to join us on April 5 at The Windham Public Library, 217 Windham Center Road, Windham, ME, to hear Norma discuss her book and her five previous books.

Just Write Books LLC, offers publishing consulting and coaching for writers. JWB uses its proprietary High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.

steps to publish your book - Written by AI

2/20/2023

Are you hearing about AI writing your stories, your articles, your social media.

I tried it this morning.

First I asked Compose AI to Write a list of the steps to publishing a book.

The results:

1. Create a manuscript: Write the content of your book.

2. Find a literary agent: Research agents that represent books in your genre and make a list of potentials.

3. Submit a query letter: Compose a letter to the agents introducing yourself and your book.

4. Wait for a response: Agents may take several weeks or months to respond.

5. Revise your manuscript: If the agent requests changes, make the necessary edits.

6. Sign a contract: Once the agent finds a publisher, you’ll need to sign a contract outlining the terms of the agreement.

7. Begin the publishing process: This includes editing, designing a cover, formatting, and proofreading.

8. Promote your book: Once your book is released, you’ll need to promote it to reach potential readers.

My next experiement was to ask Compose AI to write a poem.

I wrote, "Compose a poem about Maine Woods & Waters. The result is below:

Maine Woods and Waters

The Maine woods and waters,
So beautiful and still,
Their rolling hills and rocky shores,
A sight for eyes to fill.

The pine trees and the birches,
The cool, clear streams that flow,
The ocean waves that crash ashore,
A sight to make us know.

The loons that call across the lake,
The eagles that soar on high,
The blue heron that stands so still,
A sight to make us sigh.

The ocean mist that lingers,
The sunlight that warms the shore,
The fragrant air that carries,
A sight to love forever more.

A little sappy but if a high school student wrote it we would not say it was awful. Compose AI wrote it in five seconds. I see the concerns ahead for the human race.

Joy of the Pen 2021

7/8/2021

As in years prior, Just Write Books will be sponsoring the Maine-Related Nonfiction Award for the Joy of the Pen Literary awards! First place in this category will win a $50 prize, and the runner up will net a $25 prize! And we’re asking all of our writers to consider entering this local contest in any category!

Maine has a storied history of being home to writing talent, from fiction writers to poets to historians. Hosted by the Topsham Public Library, The Joy of the Pen brings local writers together and provides a platform for a wide range of talent.

The competition is open to all Maine residents, and accepts unpublished work only. Submissions open September 4th and close October 2nd, so get writing! Entries are accepted in the following categories:

Fiction
Poetry
Nonfiction
Maine-related Nonfiction
Teen Fiction
Teen Poetry
Kids Fiction
Kids Poetry

Rules of Entry:

Residents of Maine only
Unpublished work only (work that has been self-published or has appeared online, on a personal blog for example, is NOT eligible)
Writers are limited to one piece in each category (5 pieces total for adults and 3 pieces total for teens and kids – a collection of poetry counts as 1 piece)
Work that does not adhere to word/page limit will not be read/considered
Joy of the Pen is judged anonymously. Please do not put your name on the work itself, only on the application. Likewise, the judges will remain anonymous until the awards are announced.
Topsham Public Library retains first publication rights to the work of the winners and runners-up (all other rights automatically return to the author after publication)
Submissions in the Maine-Related Nonfiction category must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words

Preferred Manuscript Format for Fiction, Nonfiction and Maine-Related Nonfiction

Include the word count in top right corner of page 1
Always use 12-point, Times New Roman or similar font.
Double-space paragraphs
Keep text justified to the left (Word default)
Indent new paragraphs (use tab button) rather than leave a line space
Use 1-inch margins (standard Word margins are fine)
Include a top-header with the story title and the page number in top right corner, beginning on page 2
Use a pound sign (#) to separate any line breaks
Please number your pages (it makes it easier for judges to read!)

If you’ve ever thought about submitting your writing into a competiton, now’s your chance. Between now and the last weekend in September, if you write approximately 60 words a day, you’ll have a draft ready and five days to proofread, edit it, and have someone read it over before you submit it on October 4th. If you’ve been writing as a hobby, or if you’ve wanted to start writing but always felt you needed an extra push, consider this your invitation. Pick your topic, pick your story, and get writing, even if only for the joy of the pen.

We look forward to reading your work!

Just Write Books LLC, offers publishing consulting and coaching for writers. JWB uses its proprietary High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.

four books that make perfect father's day gifts

6/10/2021

Father’s Day is just around the corner! Whether your dad is the golfing type, a fisherman, or he fancies himself more of an outdoorsman, Just Write Books has the perfect gift for him.

Getting Your Big Fish: Trolling Maine Waters, by Tom Seymour

The perfect gift for the dad that loves fishing, Getting Your Big Fish can help anglers get their big trout in waters large and small. Supplying up-to-date information on tackle and fishing techniques, Tom Seymour shares his experience from a lifetime of trolling Maine waters to explain helpful tricks and skills to help your dad catch a big one.

Wild Critters of Maine: Everyday Encounters, by Tom Seymour

A treasure trove of anecdotes about Maine’s vital wildlife, Wild Critters of Maine is the ideal gift for the dad that loves the outdoors. Tom has written a collection of stories and remembrances rather than a wildlife guide, and the wilderness-loving dad will appreciate the lively storytelling as well as the factual accounts of Maine’s wildlife.

Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide Third Edition, by Tom Seymour

For the outdoorsy dad that likes to forage, Wild Plants of Maine will prove an invaluable resource. In its third edition, Tom Seymour identifies Maine’s various flora, pointing out which can be used, which can be eaten, and which to avoid, with the same lively voice found in his other books, such as Wild Critters of Maine. Whether your dad wants to spice up a meal, pick his own food, or serve adventures for dinner, this book is a must-have gift!

Lessons From A Golfer: A Daughter's Story About Opening The Heart, by Susan Lebel Young

A story about one woman’s experience with her dad, Lessons From A Golfer is a collection of stories, journaling, and poetry. When Susan Lebel Young’s father had a cardiac scare resulting in seven-way bypass surgery, Susan began to write and compose poetry and correspond with friends, telling the story of a jazz horn player, an oral surgeon, a golf champion that won the Maine State Amateur six times, and a father who taught lessons of life through the lessons of golf.

Just Write Books LLC, offers publishing consulting and coaching for writers. JWB uses its proprietary High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.

Coronavirus Heroes: Life During a Pandemic published by Bowdoin Students

4/30/2021

A group of Bowdoin students in the 2021 Health, Culture, and Society class took on an unusual project. In the course, they discussed how living through the COVID-19 pandemic has been a taxing experience for everyone. It has been particularly difficult for children. While children appear to be less vulnerable physically to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the feelings of uncertainty, a lack of normal social interactions, lack of structure in their days, and isolation from school friends and family outside of the home have certainly taken their toll.

To help children cope and feel less isolated, Bowdoin College students: Basmattie Dookie, Hikmah Okoya, Emma Hahsey, and Joanna Lin wrote a children’s book, Coronavirus Heroes: Life During a Pandemic. Lin and Okoya illustrated the story. The Bowdoin College McKeen Center provided a grant to print copies to be distributed to the two elementary schools in Brunswick.

Although the students wrote and illustrated the book, they didn’t know how to make it a published book. Joanne Rosenthal, the mentor to one of the students, suggested that they contact Nancy E Randolph with Just Write Books, a consultant and a publisher of Maine books by Maine authors telling Maine stories. Randolph agreed to donate her time and expertise to help the students publish Coronavirus Heroes. Working with the students via several Zoom sessions, the students added pages, modified artwork, and reformatted the book. The students even created a publishing house, Bear Bud Books, and purchased an ISBN to ensure that the book has life after their class ends.

Randolph said “I was happy to help these Bowdoin students. They were providing a great service to students, parents, and teachers. They gave dozens of copies to the two Brunswick elementary schools. It was also great to work with four very bright and engaged young people.”

Studies have shown that children that don’t understand why quarantine measures have to be taken, such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and remote learning, have more anxiety. To that end, it’s important to expose children to fact-based information tailored to them to help them more easily understand the pandemic and the quarantine measures in place. Coronavirus Heroes was written to provide facts in an easy-to-read story to help children understand why they need to stay home, social distance, wear a mask, and attend their classes from home.

Reading the story will help children understand they are not alone and help them understand that caring for ourselves and others is a superpower each of us can use every day.

You can find more information on Coronavirus Heroes: Life During a Pandemic on their website here.

VISIT THE CORONAVIRUS HEROES SITE

Just Write Books LLC, offers publishing consulting and coaching for writers. JWB uses its proprietary High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.

Welcome Spring with Wild Plants of Maine by tom seymour

4/1/2021

"A hint of spring to winter-weary souls is akin to a shipwreck survivor floating about in a raft and spotting a distant ship looming ever larger on the horizon. Prior to this, the shipwreck person thinks, 'I know I’m in a shipping lane, and help will eventually arrive.' But until that hope becomes a reality, it’s hard to stay cheerful." -Tom Seymour, Hidden World Revealed

Nearly everyone in Maine recognizes cattails as they appear in autumn, but Tom Seymour wants you to start enjoying them this spring. Take some knowledge on your foraging expeditions with Tom Seymour's Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide Third Edition! Here's an excerpt from the pages of Wild Plants of Maine detailing how to find what it takes to dig up "the supermarket of swamps."

"Cattails vie with evening primrose for the title of first wild edible of springtime. In fact, a determined forager could, with some risk of hypothermia, harvest cattail products in midwinter, by cutting holes in the ice and pulling up the rootstalks. But such chilly and potentially risky endeavors are not recommended. So the prudent forager waits until early spring when dried, brown cattail leaves and stalks from last season protrude from newly thawed ponds and waterholes," Tom Seymour writes about spring cattails.

"For me, harvesting cattail sprouts entails putting on hip boots and, with long-handled spade in hand, walking out in the shallow section of a nearby pond. There, I work the point of my spade under a cattail root clump and, with one hand prying on the handle, grasp the plant with the other hand and apply steady pressure until the muck releases its grip on my plant, something often accompanied by a loud, slurping sound. It’s a muddy, cold business but in late March [and early April], a very worthwhile one."

And that's not all you'll find in Tom Seymour's Wild Plants of Maine. You'll learn about dandelions and their lookalikes coltsfoot, blunt-leaved dock, jewelweed, and evening primrose. And that's just what you'll find outside right now, in early spring! In Tom's book, you'll learn about stag horn sumac, find out when to harvest the ostrich fiddleheads that make for such good eats, and read why lamb's quarters are one of Tom's favorite wild edible plants!

So when you go foraging this year, don't forget your tools: your knife, your weeding tool, your scissors, your basket, and of course, your copy of Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide by Tom Seymour.

Coltsfoot, the earliest harbinger of Spring, is commonly mistaken for dandelions.

"The coming spring is like that rescue ship on a distant horizon. We know it’s there, and headed our way. And all it took to realize this was one brief, fleeting vision." --Tom Seymour, Hidden World Revealed

Tom Seymour, Maine writer and naturalist, has written over a dozen titles including: Getting Your Big Fish: Trolling Maine Waters, Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide, Forager’s Notebook, Wild Critters of Maine: Everyday Encounters, and Hidden World Revealed: Musings of a Maine Naturalist from Just Write Books LLC, Topsham, Maine. Seymour has also written a multitude of monthly features including his popular “Maine Wildlife” for The Maine Sportsman Magazine.

Nancy E. Randolph operates Just Write Books LLC offering consulting and coaching to writers. With over 50 years of writing experience and two decades in the publishing industry working with dozens of writers, Randolph has learned how to produce a manuscript that is ready for publication. Randolph uses that knowledge to help writers and authors reach their publishing goals. An active community member along with two others she founded and serves as a member of the board of Save Our Swinging Bridge.Org to ensure the maintenance of the historic Roebling-designed and -built bridge connecting Topsham and Brunswick.

New Release - Looking Back: New and Selected Poems by Diane H. Schetky

3/18/2021

Just Write Books is pleased to bring you the latest collection of poetry from the pen of poet Diane H. Schetky, Looking Back: New and Selected Poems.

A collection of new poems and selected favorites, Schetky's poems will take readers exploring far-off places, like the Arctic and Antarctica, contemplating subjects like the environment and climate change. Others muse on life, memory, and the inevitability of age, all in free verse. As she notes, “nature bestows daily gifts upon those whose eye and ears
are ready to receive them.”

Diane Schetky has channeled much of her feeling into a deeply personal work. Having lived for more than eighty years and struggling with early Alzheimer's, she feels concern over her losses, and has assembled some of her older poems to save memories of the past and reflect and share them with friends and readers. The result is an intimate look into her life through a flow of eclectic compositions, where old is followed by new, ending on a selection of poems focusing on finding serendipity in a changing world.

Diane H. Schetky

Here's some praise for Looking Back:

"Perceptive, poignant, and lyrical, Diane Schetky’s wordplay combines the wisdom of aging, wonder at the natural world, and sensitivity to a changing world. Reading her poems is an experiential process, inviting empathic “Looking Back.” or recognition of “Right Whales Wrong Climate”. Schetky’s verse captures the reader with eloquence and insight"
—Ellen Rothchild, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Emerita, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

"I love experiencing the world through Diane Schetky’s poetry. Her reverence for Mother Earth, her knowledge and love of music and the natural world are deftly braided throughout this collection. But, Unfolding is more than that. In this collection, perhaps her most personal yet, the poet also includes poems about significant people from her childhood, loss, a failing memory, and aging."
—Maggie Butler, MSW, Certified Amherst Writers & Artist Facilitator

Looking Back: New and Selected Poems by Diane Schetky is available to preorder now on jstwrite.com and Amazon!

Nancy E. Randolph operates Just Write Books LLC offering consulting and coaching to writers. With over 50 years of writing experience and two decades in the publishing industry working with dozens of writers, Randolph has learned how to produce a manuscript that is ready for publication. Randolph uses that knowledge to help writers and authors reach their publishing goals. An active community member along with two others she founded and serves as a member of the board of Save Our Swinging Bridge.Org to ensure the maintenance of the historic Roebling-designed and -built bridge connecting Topsham and Brunswick.

Longfellow Days - Remembering H.R. Coursen

2/4/2021

February marks the start of the Longfellow Days in Brunswick! While in-person events are not being held this year, the Longfellow Days committee is still finding ways to celebrate the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow through this year’s theme of letters and letter writing. This year, we’d like to make our own contribution by remembering a man whose love of poetry inspired the Coursen readings that are normally a part of the annual Longfellow Days celebrations - Herbert Randolph Coursen.

A student of the University of Connecticut with a Ph.D in English, a teacher at Bowdoin College, Clemson University, Ohio University, and the University of Maine at Augusta, a fighter pilot during the 1950s and one of the original members of Maine Veterans for Peace, H.R. Coursen was a man of many talents. According to Nancy E Randolph, publisher with Just Write Books, wrote this in a front-page obituary for The Times Record, “Herbert Randolph (H.R.) Coursen- a talented, brilliant, witty and sometimes irascible man- was passionate about Shakespeare, poetry, sports, music and politics. They enlivened his conversation and defined his life.”

Robert Chute of Poland Springs, with whom H.R. Coursen shared numerous poetry readings, had this to say of his friend- “I knew Herb as a fellow U.S. Air Force veteran in Veterans for Peace — his war Korea, mine, World War II. I knew him as a fellow poet, exchanging, without offense or favor, suggestions, edits, corrections. He was an insightful scholar and a writer of astounding diversity. His life, as are all lives, was many things, but much of it was Literature, with a capital L.”

H.R. Courson.

One of Herb’s particular talents was the recontextualization of works by writers of the past. He rewrote in modern verse the works of Ovid, Euripides, and Virgil, with works like The Iliad, The Aeneid and The Golden Fleece transformed by his pen. One that speaks to the strengths of his writing and his strengths as a person was Longfellow’s Evangeline: An Adaptation in Modern Verse.

Initially resistant to the idea of a modern recontextualization of Longfellow’s Evangeline, he wrote in his introduction to the work, “I remembered the narrative as a sentimental story that explained why Longfellow’s longer poems had faded into obscurity. The poem might appeal to Victorian sensibility, but the skeptical and epigrammatic Emily Dickinson seemed much more appealing to current tastes- or at least to mine.”

However, when convinced by publisher Nancy E Randolph to give Evangeline another try, he described how his opinion pivoted. “But when I reread Evangeline, I realized that, while the sentimentality was there- a cloying idealization and conventional piety- the story also captured something of the 20th century, and beyond. It is a story of loss, and of searching for people trampled in the shuffle of tyrannies and their wars, of the disruption of cultures, of the shattering of expectations, of the punishment of those who have done no wrong.” Seeing Evangeline in this new light, he took to his modern retelling, and in many ways, both the work itself and the story behind how he came to write it encapsulates the man of Herbert Randolph Coursen himself.

Intelligent and witty, a man who hated computers and loved poetry, H.R. Coursen is remembered by his friends and loved ones as a passionate man of literary power, and by the town of Brunswick, Maine through the Coursen Readings held during the annual celebration of Longfellow Days. Thank you for taking the time to join us in remembering a talented writer, poet and educator and a profoundly one-of-a-kind individual.

Nancy E. Randolph operates Just Write Books LLC offering consulting and coaching to writers. With over 50 years of writing experience and two decades in the publishing industry working with dozens of writers, Randolph has learned how to produce a manuscript that is ready for publication. Randolph uses that knowledge to help writers and authors reach their publishing goals. An active community member along with two others she founded and serves as a member of the board of Save Our Swinging Bridge.Org to ensure the maintenance of the historic Roebling-designed and -built bridge connecting Topsham and Brunswick.

New Release Out! Grandkids as Gurus: Lessons for Grownups

11/21/2020

Just in time for the holidays, Just Write Books reveals Grandkids as Gurus: Lessons for Grownups by Susan Lebel Young.

Grandkids as Gurus shows how children can be our greatest teachers. In this charming collection of stories, remembrances, and anecdotes, as well as a collection of artwork from the gurus themselves, Lebel shares the unexpected lessons learned from her own grandchildren, and shows that sometimes the youngest can teach us the most important things in life.

“I knew how to be a grandparent, I had four great ones, fine role models. Being grandma would be simple, like my certain truth that we succeed best when we cooperate,” Lebel writes. “Being one generation removed from worrying about memorizing times-tables and flashcard homework, about not-throwing food and table manners is bigger than giving them back to their parents.”

Here are a few things that have been said about Grandkids as Gurus: Lessons for Grownups.

“In chapters organized by themes like, ‘Beginner’s Mind,’ ‘Joy,’ and ‘Stop Adulting,’ she gives us vignettes of her experiences of being with her grandchildren and her ways of loving them that all grownups—grandparents or not—will understand.”
—Patricia Dodd Hagge, meditation teacher, former Telling Room teacher and volunteer

“Children laugh on average 400 times a day,; adults 40. Becoming an adult does not mean giving up wonder, joy and curiosity. In this book of listening and observation, Susan Young relates glimmers of the original self of childhood which we all carry within us hidden beneath the self we built to cope with the adult world. Dive in and recall what will enrich your life.”
—George Dreher, MD

“It takes a wise and attentive grandparent to move beyond delight in her grandchildren’s sayings to seeing their inherent wisdom, wisdom even for guiding adults. Sue Lebel Young is that singular grandparent, and the result of her careful listening and disarming insights is Grandkids as Gurus. It should prove thought-provoking for her readers of all ages.”
—Peter Monro, former journalist & blogger at DesignForWalking.com

Grandkids as Gurus: Lessons for Grownups is available at jstwrite.com, Amazon.com, and you can visit the author’s website at susanlebelyoung.com for an autographed copy!

Just Write Books
13 Williams Drive
Topsham, ME 04086

Phone: 207-837-0558

What our Customers say

Nancy E. Randolph, JWB owner, markets my titles on a wide scale. She also sets up book signings. I find it infinitely more enjoyable and rewarding to work with this Maine-based publisher than to deal with national publishers from out-of-state.
Finally, JWB does not publish just any aspiring author. Randolph is very selective, accepting only material that she is convinced will sell. I highly recommend JWB to any author.

Tom Seymour, author of Wild Plants of Maine and many other titles.

JWB Privacy Policy

© 2018 Copyright Just Write Books