Under the Spell of Author Jeffrey Beesler

         Today in this special edition of Tossing It Out I'm pleased to be host to one of last year's A to Z Challenge co-hosts, the ever enthusiastic Jeffrey Beesler (although he's looking a bit tired in the accompanying photo--but it's Sunday after all and he probably needs some rest in the midst of his busy book tour schedule).   And now my guest, Jeffrey Beesler.

Jeffrey Beesler: Thanks for having me today, Arlee! Today I’d like to share with you an interview featuring the antagonist from my debut fantasy novel, Spell of Entrapment. Heralding all the way from the kingdom of Trava, a knight in the Royal Army of said kingdom, is the one and only Sir Patrew. Thank you for joining us today, Sir Patrew.

Sir Patrew: You do me the honor of inviting me to talk with you, my gently scribe.

JB: In your years of service to Trava, what would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

Sir Patrew: Why, to ascend the military ranks, of course! Being in a position of prestige and power has always been my number one goal. I’ve always prided myself on having gone up the chain of command in less than half the time it took those who have gone before me.

JB: Quite the ambitious sort, are you?

Sir Patrew: Ambition fuels the fire in my gut, after a hearty meal at the Z’lymor Inn. The staff there knows how to finely cook a roast.

JB: So I take it the inn is a frequent stop for you?

Sir Patrew: Indeed, it is. I find that it attracts a wide range of fascinating people ranging from the upper crust to the riffraff. In fact, I’ve arrested some of the country’s worst offenders there.

JB: What do you mean by worst offenders?

Sir Patrew: Oh, you know. Unpatriotic traitors, thieves, unregistered mages not working in tandem with the Royal Army, that sort of thing.

JB: Are you currently on the hunt for anyone right now?

Sir Patrew: I’ll have to politely decline your question on the grounds that I have an investigation pending right now. The only thing I can say is that if you happen to see anyone trying to obtain exotic mushrooms, please notify me or another soldier at once.

JB: I’ll be sure to keep this in mind. Thank you for your time.

Sir Patrew: Thank you.

Bio:    Jeffrey Beesler was born on May 2^nd, 1978. In addition to self-publishing his debut novel, Spell of Entrapment, he has had a short fantasy story published in Abandoned Towers #4, The Broken Pipes of Drei City.  He is a graduate of the LongRidge Writers Group correspondence course, "Breaking into Print". 

His book can be purchased here:

Amazon:     http://www.amazon.com/Spell-Entrapment-Mages-Trava-ebook/dp/B007C0MKPY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330014268&sr=8-1

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/135275

Blurb:

When a knight, Sir Patrew of Trava, infiltrates sorceress Embekah Mare’s home, a magical backlash renders her unconscious. She awakens to discover a spell of entrapment binding them both inside the manor’s walls. Now forced to live with him after twenty years of solitude and exile, she must navigate her way through alternating feelings of distrust and attraction.

As the weeks pass with no end in sight of the hex, a shape-shifting spirit arrives inside the magical barrier’s walls to target Embekah specifically. When she seeks out Patrew’s help against this new threat, she uncovers a secret in his past that could very well destroy her future. With the help of her trusty toad Halscrad, Embekah must see through the deceit and find something long lost to her.

  But not everything is as it seems. With lies all around her, Embekah finds the truth to be more elusive than the freedom right outside her manor. Can she survive long enough to figure out what’s real and what isn’t?

You can visit Jeffrey Beesler at his blog World of the Scribe.

Don't forget to vote for your favorite A to Z Video.  Voting closes at 11:59 PM Eastern Time tonight March 18th.   Voting ballot can be found at the A to Z Blog.

Related articles

• Jeffrey Beesler and Spell Of Entrapment (breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com)
• Jeffrey Beesler Tells You What You Oughta Know About the A-Z Challenge (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• She Blinded Me With Science (afarawayview.blogspot.com)

Why Would I Want To Do That?

The Big Question

          I'm sure many bloggers look at the A to Z Challenge and ask themselves, "Why would I want to do that?"   In fact, some of you who have signed up already may be having second thoughts and asking the same question.   You might as well be asking yourself the question, "Why do I want to blog?" or perhaps even, "Why do I want to write?"

          The last two questions I have seen frequently asked in the blog posts of others.  It's easy to question our actions when we are tired or frustrated or just unsure what our efforts bring us. And yet we persist from whatever inner motive drives us onward.  So in answer to the "Why" question about the A to Z Challenge we might just as well ask, "Why not?".

Another Take On It

          Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe addressed some very genuine concerns about participating in a blog event like the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.   It's interesting to see the varied reasons why people don't want to participate or do want to participate.  I left a reply to Jeffrey's post.

My reply to Jeffery's post:

This is a great post, Jeffrey.

You, Summer, and Bryan have all made excellent points that illustrate the way I see the Challenge. The comparison to NaNo is a good one. Blogging from A to Z is a personal challenge--it has different meaning and purpose to each participant. The best thing about a Challenge of this nature is that it allows us to make whatever connections we want--with ourselves and our own abilities, bloggers with similar interests, the blogging community in general, etc. The reasons for doing it are as varied as the bloggers participating.

The main thing is to have a good time and get what you need from it. Stressing or self-deprecation is not a good thing for anyone to do, so I hope the Challenge doesn't have this affect on anyone.

 I know a lot of other bloggers have reservations about participating because of some of the things you mention.

Love posts like these that stimulate thought. That's what blogging should be in my world.

Lee
Tossing It Out and the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2011
February 2, 2011 9:03 AM

   --------------------------------------

Some Additional Points Of View
The Words Crafter from The Rainy Day Wanderer has a post which reviews some things we should remember during April and offers some new suggestions that I do not recall having seen before.  Her post is worth checking out.

Be sure to also check out the post by Nicki Elson where she will be delving a bit more into the subject of self-promotion through the press in her whimsically titled blog bit called Self-Promotion Sucks.  I think it will be worth your time since it comes from the voice of experience.

Marcus from Writing Investigated has an interesting A to Z navigation badge that some of you may want to check out.   See his post about it and you can direct any questions to him about this.

How About You?
Is there any news from any of you?   Anybody get press coverage yet besides Nicki?   Any major werewolf events after this past week-end's Supermoon?



-----------------------------------

...A Little Help From Our Friends: Helpful Bloggers to the Rescue

          As I have been teasing all week, today I have a special announcement.  And I guess it would be of little surprise to anyone that this announcement has something to do with the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  If this is your guess, then you are correct.

          The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is climbing toward 300 participants with a probability that we may go over this amount before the arrival of the start date.  Last year I was nearly overwhelmed by the almost 100 bloggers who participated in A to Z.  I knew that this year would be even bigger since we had a much earlier start to get the word out to the blogging community.

            Fortunately, popular bloggers Alex J Cavanaugh, Jennifer Daiker, and Talli Roland came to my rescue to make the Challenge easier to administer and be a greater success.  However we came to the conclusion that even we might not be able to satisfactorily pull this off to a point that would make the Challenge as great as it could be.  For this reason we are expanding the A to Z Team.

Here are the four added members of the A to Z Team:

Jeffrey Beesler from World of the Scribe....

Candace Ganger from The Misadventures in Candyland

Karen Jones Gowen from Coming Down the Mountain: From Reclusive Writer to Published Author....

Stephen Tremp from Breakthrough Blogs..

           Some of you may already be familiar with all or some of these bloggers.  I'll let you visit each of their blogs so you can say hello and get to know them better.  They each have their own unique strengths and talents which should help make the challenge more fun and more rewarding for all of us. 

           In the weeks to come, we will be offering our special Challenge posts to make your April a more successful race to the finish line.  Be sure to watch the posts of the A to Z Team as we present tips from our experiences in blogging, writing, and life in general.  It won't always be A to Z of course, but we hope the special posts we give you will be something you will find useful and enjoyable. 

          The A to Z Team will be here to answer your questions as best we can and provide support to your blogging efforts.  Let us know if you feel like you need some attention or any suggestions.  Don't forget though, we are also participating in the Challenge and even with the added members our capabilities are limited.  That's why there is one more team member who is the most important one of all.

           Who is that most important team member?   It's YOU!  Without the participation, interaction, and mutual support that only each one of you can give to the Challenge community as a whole, this run through the alphabet is going to be less than the best we can make it.  We're counting on you--every one of you--to see us to the end of April with a grand sense of accomplishment.

            I'll have more to say about all of this in the next few weeks.  I'm sure that our A to Z Team members will likewise have their own words of encouragement.  We're all friends here and never underestimate the power of friends.  We can do this challenge together--so let's do it! 

            There is one more request.  Over the next few days if there are any other bloggers that you think would benefit from this Challenge or who are still on the fence trying to decide if they should do it, please try to get them to sign up this weekend.  We can make it to our goal of 300 by Monday if we try.  Please do what you can.

            Now enough from me.  Head on over to the above links and visit the blogs of our A to Z Team members, say hello, and if you're not following them yet, do so now.  And don't forget to continue going through the Linky list and visit, comment, and follow.  In other words:  network, network, network. April will be here soon. 



++++++++