Monday, April 30, 2012

Choosing the title My Darling You (ebook) #5

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC
I was finished writing the six stories in this collection of (sort-of-love) stories My Darling You and I still didn't have a title. Very often, one of the titles of the stories is chosen as the title for a collection, but none of the six seemed right to me. I was probably leaning toward Emancipation Park, simply because it is my favourite story in the collection, but it didn't sound right for the book.
And then Whitney Houston died and everybody was playing her songs, especially I Will Always Love You. I have listened to her singing that song at many different venues and always she manages to project such strong emotion. So I had my book title, not the song title but that first My darling, you - a YOU that includes everybody and makes all women who have lost out on love feel that she was singing that song for them. Since in some of the stories 'happily ever after' is not a possibility, I thought this was just right, and when I passed the idea by some friends they absolutely loved it.


The illustration is an indulgence - a picture of me and my husband at our wedding reception, many, many years ago. So now you know.


I actually dedicated the book to Whitney Houston. The more I listen to her music, the more I realize how superlatively extra special she was. As everybody has been saying, only once in a lifetime do we get a voice (and personality) like that. 
purchase here 


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Review of My Darling YOu

I thank Geoffrey Philp for his review of my ebook My Darling You. Among other things he says:
The stories in My Darling You are engaging in their deft development of character, use of dialogue, and adept handling of plot. But there's more. They also give the reader a brief glimpse into the lives of characters who have been changed by love while skillfully exploring Jamaican attitudes toward sexuality ("Emancipation Park) and the influence of the church on the romantic decisions of its members ("First Love").

But wait, there's even more.
.....
Read the full review here
http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/2012/04/e-book-review-my-darling-you-by-hazel.html

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Commonwealth Short Story short list

Very happy to have made the short list for the Commonwealth Short Story prize announced yesterday with my story Devil Star.
Read the lists here
 http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/commonwealth-writers-announces-shortlists-for-2012-prizes
The winner of the regional prize is fellow Jamaican Diana McCaulay announced today.Congrats to her

My amazon page



My author page on Amazon
amazon.com/author/hazelcampbell

Regrettably not all my titles published in Jamaica are on sale on amazon

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Writing the stories-My new ebook3 -'romance ' or not?

When I was getting my ebook My Darling YOU ready for publishing on Amazon, I was reluctant to use the classification 'romance'. The stories are about people and how they handle love, but they are romantic in the sense of feelings and not the physical contact which seems to be a requirement of the romance genre.And when a friend on facebook commented that he hoped the stories were 'steamy', I sort of cringed. I guess that's why I used the subtitle
 love stories-sort of
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC


Then I read these comments below and realized that I shared some of the ides expressed by the author, hence my reluctance to use the classification of 'romance' 

What do you think?


No one would call Jane Eyre a "romance novel." It would instead be referred to as a "classic love story." The very thing that separates classic love stories from romance novels is that romance novels must by default be bad, tacky even, or they'll no longer be classified as romance novels and will get placed in a higher category.

I find it difficult to respect something that is purposely meant to be a lessor work. One should always strive to do great work. If an author classifies their own story as romance, that tells me that even they don't think much of it. That being the case, neither should we. http://calemccaskey.blogspot.com/2012/01/problem-with-romance-novels.html

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Writing the stories-My new ebook 2

The Empty Jam Jar one of the stories in My Darling You



The source of the idea for this story is easily identified. On the spate of separations and divorces among acquaintances, a friend commented-

'By the time you get a piece of the wedding cake, a week or so later, you hear they are separated!'


One of the things about wedding pictures is how happy everyone looks ( generally speaking LOL). So, I thought I would write a story which suggested that if persons could sharply recall the emotions of the day, they might re-think a hasty separation. (A bit of fantasy here.) 

Saturday, April 14, 2012

I AM ALIVE


Hi everybody, My ebook has been published on Amazon.
check it out here
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC#reader_B007U78HEC



Six short stories from the Caribbean on  the theme of love - requited and not.

You can read the first story on the Amazon page and then buy the book


By the way You don't need to own a kindle to read the Amazon ebooks. Download a free app here which allows you to read ebooks on your PC

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311



Monday, April 2, 2012

My first ebook



This is the cover of my first ebook collection of short stories for adults. I am making that distinction because I also write for children. It should be up soon. Look out for the announcements.Soon come.