My Poem "Suicide" to be Published

Hi everyone,

I am on a high today, I have just received confirmation that my poem "Suicide" has now reached the finals of the International Open Poetry Contest to be held in June 2005 and that's not all. My poem "Suicide" is also to be published in their Summer Anthology "Eternal Portraits". I really can't believe it. I sent back my permission slip immediately as this will mean more publicity for my writing. This is my 3rd poem to be published by the International Poetry Library - you can find my poems on http://www.poetry.com , just search for Amanda Evans. You will receive a huge listing. My poems are titled "Withered Love" - this was published in a book titled "Tender Moments" in September 2001 (my first publication), "Birth" and "Suicide" - both of these poems are to be included in the Eternal Portraits Anthology.

I do have a question however, exciting as it may be to have my work in print I sometimes wonder do companies like these just publish anthologies to make money. I have been asked to purchase a copy of the anthology for $49.95 plus $11.00 shipping (and this is the authors discounted rate) and I am wondering if it is just a gimmick for them to make some extra money. I did purchase a copy of Tender Moments back in 2001 and I have to admit that the book is really well made but I just feel like $60.00 is alot to pay for just one book. What do you think?

Would you be prepared to pay?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this,

Till next time,

Amanda.

I've Been Ranked

All my hard work has finally paid off - I've been ranked. I still can't believe it. Searching just my name - Amanda Evans - on google ranks me in 3rd, 4th, 16th, 37th, 47th and 93rd and all for different things. My ranking for 3rd is for a website called Sensual Venus. This is where I have some of my erotic poetry published. Ranking number 4 is for ezinearticles where I am listed as an expert author, my blog at lulu.com is ranked 16th and so on..........

If I search my name - Amanda Evans - and the word poetry I am ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 19th. I am still in shock and this is just with google.

Searching with Yahoo brings up similar results. Just searching my names - Amanda Evans - ranks me 17th, 32nd, 76th, 82nd and 112th and just as above these are all for different websites. Searching my name and poetry ranks me 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 11th.

It really is amazing to look up your name and to see so much. I really can't believe all this has happened in just a few short months. My website traffic has soared, I guess search engine placement really is vital afterall.

Look forward to updating you all soon,

Thanks for reading,

Amanda.

Published at Last

I have just publised my first book titled "From Those Death Left Behind". This book is in memory of my father who sadly took his own life on the 29th October 1990. This book contains poetry from both me and my mother portraying the emotions and pain we suffered as a result of my fathers death. In writing this book I am hoping to finally let go of all the pain and suffering I have felt over the last 15 years. It has been a struggle writing this book, poetry of this kind is so personal but I do hope that by sharing others can be helped.

The main objective to publishing this book is to help others who have suffered as I have. Suicide rates increase yearly and I hope that by reading my book people who have suicidal tendencies might seek help and prevent causing pain to their loved ones. The pain of suicide is one that stays with you for life, so many unanswered questions, the feelings of guilt, could I have done anything to stop this from happening?. Questions that will forever remain unanswered.

Secondly by publishing this book I hope to help raise money for the various bereavement and suicide prevention organisations throughout the world.

People who buy this book can also see where their money has been donated to by clicking on the donations page of my website www.amandawrites.com/donations.htm

This book can be purchased for $12.95 (hardcopy) or $7.50 (ebook) from Lulu.com. The link for this is http://www.lulu.com/content/120733.

If you purchase the book and have any comments I would love to hear them.

Many thanks,

Amanda

My Poem "Dreams" to be Published

Yesterday I submitted one of my new poems "Dreams" to as many poetry competitions as I could find and I am delighted to announced that today I received an e-mail from voicesnet.com stating that they would like to publish my poem in their VoicesNet Anthology that is published every 3 months.

Their e-mail stated that they receive more than 3,000 visitors per day to their website and their anthology is shipped to over 38 countries worldwide. They also stated that they receive thousands of poems each day for entry into their competition and only the finest are chosen for publication. I feel so honoured, still can't believe it, I only wrote the poem and sent it off.

I was asked for my permission to publish this poem which I have given and I am also eligible for Special Recognition as a top 3 poems. The prizes for this are $100 and a free book for 1st place, $50 and a free book for 2nd and $25 and a free book for 3rd. I really hope that I might be among the winners.

So anyway I have ordered a copy of the book which is due out in September of this year. I was also given a really good choice on ordering. You could have it as a hardback with an engraving, a hardback with no engraving, a paperback with an engraving or a paperback with no engraving. I also ordered a Publishing Certificate to hang on my wall at home just to remind me of my success. Probably a bit daft I know but I am really delighted at being published. My dream is now becoming reality.

Can't wait to receive my book.

Till next time,

Amanda.

Success - Such a Great Feeling

I have been published. I can't believe it. I submitted a rant about breaking into the writing scene, basically I was giving out about how difficult it is to get a job writing. I have joined so many websites and for all the freelance jobs they look for samples of your work, how do you get samples if nobody will give you a job without samples in the first place. So I found a website www.endevil.com they have a rant section for people to give out about things, so I submitted my rant and hey presto they have decided to publish it. I still can't believe it, I feel like I am on cloud nine, my first attempt at submitting some writing and it has been accepted. I guess I really could be living my dream if this keeps up.

Some other news, I have almost completed my website www.amandawrites.com it is packed full of stuff, poetry (mostly mine but I am having a poet of the month section in which people can submit their work for publication on the site), I have articles, a message board and so much more. The next problem that I will have is how to get people to visit my site. Anyone have any suggestions?

Well just thought I would share the good news. Thanks again for reading.

Follow That Dream

Well this is it, I have eventually decided that the time has come to follow my dream of becoming a published writer. Not sure yet how I am going to go about it but I guess just setting up and starting this blog has helped.

I have always been a passionate writer and have always dreamed of being published but I guess life just took over and I never seemed to get around to pursuing my dream. All that is about to change now. I am taking the bull by the horns so as to speak and I am going to do something about it. As an avid writer most of my works to date have been poetry. I found that writing poetry was an excellent way for me to come to terms with the loss of my father. My father took his own life on the 29th October 1990 when I was only 13 years old. I began writing poetry when I was about 15 and found that it was a great way to express the emotions I was feeling. Suicide is a very difficult subject to talk about and so writing my feelings down became like second nature. A lot of my poetry was very morbid and depressing as was my life at that time, but things have changed now and my life has moved on for the better. I met my partner Joe in 2000 and we now have a beautiful baby girl called Emma.

When I met Joe I decided that it was time to let go of the past and stupidly I burned all my poetry and writing. Looking back now I do regret it but at the time it felt right. I wanted to move on with my life and stop living in the past. It seems to have worked, my recent works can still be quite morbid and depressing but with the birth of my daughter my writing found a new niche.

To date my writing accomplishments are very few. I have had one of my poems published after winning a poetry contest. The poem is titled "Withered Love" and the book is called "Tender Moments"

This blog is my way of putting my writing on the internet, of sharing my thoughts and feelings with the world and keeping everyone up to date with my writing accomplishments (I am hoping to have quite a lot more).

I am currently setting up my website www.amandawrites.com and will keep everyone update on this.

So for now thank you for reading.