Welcome back again! Our featured author, Adam Santo, has finished up his blog series about creating the perfect book. It's not an end to his writing, just a beginning. Help him along by liking, following, or visiting Adam on his fan page to show how much you appreciate him.
He has done a fantastic job of condensing considerable knowledge down to a brief introduction to writing. Find books written by Adam Santo on our author page here and read some of the excerpts there, too.
We wish him the best of luck in his writing career. May our partnership in printing continue as long as the written word is being read.

We would like to bring your attention to our featured author, Adam Santo, which is currently writing a blog about the fundamentals of building a book. His expertise falls under the genre of fiction. Please give him a warm welcome on his blog as he tackles the wonderment that brings novels to life. Each week Adam Santo brings a brief understanding towards outlines, plots, dialogue, and other elements that breathe life into stories.

Today the United Kingdom is celebrating World Book Day. We, at Panhandling Fantasy would like to encourage others to partake in the festivities by reading a book - any kind, whether it be printed or digital.  We would also like to get the party started by offering one our author's newest books free so that you can do this celebration up right. Temperature: Bitter Cold will be free today and tomorrow (03-08-2013) to honor such a great event. The code is: PQ54Z and can be used at checkout. Adam Santo also has another title readily available and free all year long to keep the fun flowing. Ocean's Fury is only 10 pages long, but worth the read. It can be found at any online retailer.

Dear Friends and Family,
This year I am proud to play a part in the fight against Parkinson’s disease. As a Team Fox member I will be selling my books to raise money. Taking on the challenge of this fundraising endeavor is both exciting and inspiring. I am making a commitment to raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s disease (PD) because because I want to help. I am dedicating my efforts to The Michael J. Fox Foundation because I believe that I am helping to ultimately shorten the road to a cure.

Over five million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) — a chronic degenerative neurological disorder whose symptoms typically progress from mild tremors to complete physical incapacitation. In the United States, 60,000 new cases of PD will be diagnosed this year alone. While the average age of onset is 60, an estimated five to 10 percent of people with PD experience onset at age 40 or younger.

There is no known cure for Parkinson’s disease. Currently available treatments temporarily mask symptoms while the disease continues to progress. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today.

I’m asking for your support in our race to put an end to PD.  My personal goal is to raise $5,000.00. Please help me reach my goal by making a contribution now. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law and can be made online through my Team Fox fundraising page at http://www2.michaeljfox.org/goto/RisingUp . I invite you to join me in making a difference in the lives of those living with Parkinson’s disease.

Thank you in advance for your generous support as we strive together toward the finish line on the fast track to a cure.

Sincerely,

Adam Santo

It's the beginning of the year and once again Adam Santo comes by to be our guest blogger for our first post of the year. If you'd like an opportunity to be our guest please shoot us a line at webservices@panhandlingfantasy.com with "Guest Blog" on the subject line.

At the beginning of this year you might've found a little bird sitting on your shoulder and tweeting new book ideas for the coming year. As cheery and prosperous as the chipper bird's song made you feel, self manufactured doubt seeped in-between the delightful choruses regardless - it's a demon we all face at the beginning, climax, and finale of any story.
This delusional sabotage we, as writers, create is inevitable. Writing is a solitary job, done over endless hours of seclusion and sleep deprivation. Indecision plagues us from the very first words to hit the page until the final period completes it. By the end of a manuscript, hope of crafting a stupendously superb story taunts us back into the light where civilized people still dwell. That becomes short lived.

Someone has to read it now.

Fear and trepidation prevent us from handing off our newly crafted baby to an unknown critic for review. Your critic may come in the form of a family member, close friend, or one of the big review companies. Whichever course you take it still leaves behind unconscious twitches of anxiousness on your face awaiting word of what they thought. It should have accrued to you that coffee might not be a good thing to drink while someone dissects your wordsmith skills like a mortician with a dull scalpel and fogged over spectacles. What you should be doing is questioning your inner-self as to why this net of frightful mien is consuming you. It's unfounded. So far only one person has read the manuscript thoroughly: you.
Critics, reviewers, and their ilk will always draw out the worst in a author. There is a way to stop the painful anticipation of hearing that thunderous judgmental hammer strike at the end of being reviewed. Continue writing. Sounds so simple: right?
Remember, hearing any kind of feedback gives you the best chance to succeed. Why? Even bad news improves your skill. In today's time, we expect instant gratification, someone to stroke our ego and bloat our heads with false claims to keep from hurting us. As writers we need - and at times crave - to hear what went wrong. If we don't rejection letters from large publishing houses will bury us where we sit blindly typing another supposedly great piece of work.
My word of advice - listen to everything everyone says. We learn from mistakes and writing puts some of us too many chapters deep into a story where what happened in the beginning has been long forgotten. Bad reviews are not the end of the world; they begin a new understanding of storytelling.
Don't let bad or indifferent reviews drag you down. You topple your own success by burying your head in negative feedback. Take them for what they're worth and grow from it. You control what's on the next page in your story - now turn it and see what's coming up next. Believe.

It's your next novel I want to read.