Join Our Facebook Event--The Bridesmaids Official Week!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1027520820619970/?active_tab=posts


Celebrate with us! Starting March 27, 2016, the Bridesmaids will be celebrating our week! This kicks off the official wedding season of 2016! If you love weddings this is the event for you. Celebrate with us, no matter where you are in the world!

Order your copy of "The Bridesmaids" today. Get swept up in the fever surrounding this book. You'll be sucked in immediately by the characters and the secrets that they carry. Drive yourself crazy trying to figure out where the next twists and turns will be. I had a ball writing this book and I hope that you enjoy it as you plan for the 2016 Wedding Season!

The Bridesmaids--The Trailer

Sometimes, you would like your audience to have a visual for your work, something that they can latch onto and be interested in. So I decided to create a trailer for my upcoming work, "The Bridesmaids".

The Bridesmaids--The Book Trailer. Enjoy! Available now for Pre-Orderhttp://www.amazon.com/Bridesmaids-Sonya-Dickerson-ebook/dp/B01AX9KLFG/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1456247801&sr=1-2&keywords=the+bridesmaids

Posted by Sonya Dickerson on Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Patient--new book coming soon

The Patient

This is a book about all chronic illness.

If you are a patient, then this book is for you. IF you are sick, then this book is for you. If you have cancer, depression, HIV, lupus, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, etc. This book is for you!

If you are a patient somewhere in America, this book is perfect for you. It tells all and talks about all that a patient has to go through. Disability, medication, treatment, death, funny stories, and much more. This book tells it all. 

To whatever disease that you have to whatever treatment you're taking, pick this book up today. 

please email sonyathescreenwriter@gmail.com for more information on when this book becomes available.

Nowhere on Nook!!!!

Those Nook owners looking for a short but great mystery novel, look no further!

Nowhere will be available on Tuesday, December 11, 2012!

The Teacher's Pet (Coming Soon)

It has been the hardest thing I've ever had to write. 

This book details the experience of being sexually assaulted as a teenager.

In May of 1996, I was sexually assaulted by a teacher in my high school. 

So much has happened over the years to ensure that I remain silent.

Not anymore. 

I apologize if I'm bringing up "ancient history"
I'm sorry that I can't just "let it go"
I'm sorry if what I'm getting ready to say makes you uncomfortable
Why now? If not, then when?

I won't be shamed.
I won't feel fear anymore.

It's time for the truth.
 

Coming Soon November 2012

Reviewing Reviews #1

(I may do a series of reviews that I come across in the future for discussion purposes only.)

I write reviews on Amazon and read many before I decide to purchase  a book. I do look at the low rated ones as well as the five star.

Contrary to popular belief, many of the reviews, good or bad, are written by people who have nothing to gain out of writing them. But there are a lot of undeserved low ratings as well as some overinflated great ones.

First off, who is to tell what one person believes is a five star review?


"A five-star novel is a work of exceptional literary genius. I am not an English major (or minor), and I am only medially well-read. But I know a five star work leaves one breathless, both emotionally and intellectually. After finishing such a book, it is impossible to initiate intercourse with another literary work for some time. An example of such a book would be Blood Meridian, Moby Dick, The Brothers Karamazov, or the like. I am not part of the kindle revolution, but I'm not a total stick in the mud, either. C'mon people, this is not a five star work. Of course, being the internet, all things exposed to popular mediation are subject to the extremes of wild fanboy(girl)-ism, or Swift Boating, but can't we have some objectivity here?"

Wow. Everyone has their own system where they grade things differently. Obviously the reviewer here felt that the book in question was nowhere near the literary genius that it needed to be to garner so many five stars. This person gave the author three stars which is fair but I cannot rate a book based to YOUR liking just as you can't for me. Why don't people understand this. The rating is justified but rate a book according to its merit and don't bellyache over other people's ratings.

 If you start your review off with, "I don't understand how this book got so many five stars...." YOU'VE LOST ALL CREDIBILITY. Go sit in a corner until you agree to play nice with the rest of the children....

Here is a bit more of this "review".....

"I feel like an 11th grade English teacher who has given an assignment to the class, and am now reading the work of the brightest pupil in the class. Yes, it was handed in early, every objective was completed, and the margins are properly aligned (although there were at least three grammar/spelling/syntax errors, one the result of a functional spell-checker and non-functional human editor)." 

This is based on conjecture and assumption. What makes this reviewer so justified in feeling the way that he does? The review sounds almost PERSONAL, which a review should never be. It should be related to the work at question and not based on some imaginary hallucination in which all he does is insult the writer.  He wants us to be objective? Try being unbiased. Did he actually sit there and count the errors, then analyze them? Volunteer work would be an amazing start for people like this.

In this strange, wonderful, but sometimes dreary world of writing, it takes a lot to please your audience. Everyone wants you to write characters that they and only they can relate to in every way. Take this review for example.....

 "My first issue with (*******************)  by J********** is the language barrier. The book is a sore reminder that British English can be quite different than American English. The sample that I read is littered with British terms and slang that take a while to figure out the meaning from the context. For example, a father refers to something as "f_g." [Amazon did not post original review due to inclusion of this word.] Obviously, in American English this is a derogatory gay slur. But for British English, it (I think) refers to cigarettes. There are many such instances where the American reader will have to pause and figure out what the author means by a certain word and its usage. Your average American reader may not have that kind of patience. I deduct one star in my rating for this reason."

This reviewer is actually complaining about the author using British words instead of American. Now the writer is actually BRITISH! The author lives there! How should she write? Should the author had written an American version where the characters speak with a Bostonian accent that smokes cigarettes instead of fags?  I mean you have to at least know that if someone asks for a fag on the street, they're not asking you if you are carrying a homosexual person in your pocket! 

For goodness sakes, when the 2012 Olympics were in London, many newspapers, blogs, and television shows had segments where they explained the differences in British and American words. Not all Americans need a British/English translator to read Brit Lit and it's insulting to assume that the writer needed to include it. Isn't it a prerequisite to at least study English Literature in schools? 

Take a look at this gem, albeit from the same review....


 My second issue are the characters themselves. The author appears intent on making EVERY single character (at least that I encountered in my sample) possess an unlikeable character flaw. While flawed characters may smooth the path towards interesting scenarios and story lines, this also turns off the reader, who CANNOT associate himself with ANY character. The bottom line is that if the reader does not like the characters, why would he care to read what happens to them? I deduct a second star for this reason.

Really? I don't read many books where the characters don't have character flaws. I can't point to a person on Earth that didn't have a character flaw...especially an unlikeable one at that. I guess the author that received this unlucky review needs to go to the store and and purchase a crystal ball. 

Then she should create characters based on what this reviewer feels as acceptable. Here is the thing about writing. You won't relate to ALL the characters and sometimes that is a beautiful thing. Without it, you wouldn't have the insight or knowledge from other people's points of views, concerns, dreams, destinies, etc. 

Literature would be pretty boring if it were that way. Writers write characters the way that they see them, plain and simple. You're going to relate to some and others, not so much. It  shows diversity and will create a pretty interesting storyline if you ask me. When you read, you are walking in someone else's shoes for awhile. You are not going to agree with all their choices or decision making in the book. Guess what? There are people in your life that don't agree with YOUR choices and decision making. Does that mean that they are right and you are wrong?

I can't relate to someone who has lived a criminal past for all of his life and decides to go rob a bank. Sure he has a mother that is dying of cancer and she needs money for treatment, but I couldn't relate to committing a crime just for that reason. I can relate to the sympathy that character would have for his mother's health, as so would a lot of people. But what about the reader that absolutely HATES his mother? 

They couldn't relate to robbing a bank to save a person's life that they totally detest. Hell, they may even be happy that she won't be on this Earth for long and decide to jump for joy. They may even relate to robbing a bank! People who think like this should probably resort to writing their own stories instead of only looking for characters that you can relate to. It would be nice, but nice doesn't make interesting reading.





".....I was very excited to buy this book for my Kindle Reader but...$17.99...are you kidding ? In this economy ?"

Okay that book is very expensive for Kindle but then again, this isn't a review.


"I have only read the sample, but that all it took for me to be disgusted."

READ THE BOOK. THEN JUDGE! I can understand not wanting to read the entire book because it doesn't catch your fancy. That's perfectly fine. God knows I have hundreds of books that I stopped reading that didn't interest me in the slightest. But then, that makes me NO longer ABLE to write a fair review on the book. In this case, I don't write a review at all. It's just like those people that say, I don't read Romance books but downloaded it anyway and hated it! 

Really? You don't like Romance, downloaded it anyway, and were horrified that you didn't enjoy the subject matter.  I have been surprised by reading genres that I have no interest in and was pleased. But then again, I go into reading...say a Western, and fully expect myself not to be able to follow because I don't read books of that subject matter. 
  
If one is really good and blows my mind? That's awesome. All that states to me is that the writer writes with universal appeal. I study Astrophysics. If I wrote a book that only PhD professionals can understand, then I'm obviously not writing to the layperson. But if I write that same book so that a ten year old can understand? Congratulations. That is a book that has universal appeal and can attract people of all backgrounds. 

It doesn't mean, however, that the first book for the PhD's isn't any good. It just means that people with PhD's or someone that is into science and technology would be able to understand it. A writer with universal appeal has the ability to make a lot of money and become extremely successful as well. 

It is hard to sit down, write something, and finish it. It's even harder to listen to criticism, but that can only make someone's work better. It's unfair to write a review that has nothing to do with the actual product. If your professor graded your paper that you worked so hard on, just to give you an F because you didn't use the right pencil or paper that they would have preferred. It's one thing if your professor ASKED you to use a certain pencil or paper but another if you learned that in hindsight. 

Just something to think about folks.
 

Sex Therapy For Free Today!

It sure is fun to see your book being purchased or at least downloaded. I'm hoping that if the reviews come in, they are positive. This was taken June 18, 2012 2:37PM.

What's Next?

Currently, I'm working on so many projects that I want to eventually publish, it's making my head spin. But I take it all in stride. Writing is what I love to do. Reading comes second to that. I try to write something every day but I get so distracted by things that don't matter. Sometimes I wonder if I didn't get so distracted by the television or my obsession with Googling.

I can google all day long before I realize that the day is now over. Hopefully I can finish these projects. Stay tuned, got some great stories coming up.


Tea of the Day: NONE..

Pulling Your Hair Out Is Part of The Writing Process

For some reason the picture won't show up larger than this. But if you zoom the screen out, you will see the numbers pouring in for my new debut, Sex Therapy. Just to show you how all this works with Amazon, it shows you to the right how many actual books you sold that you're going to get paid for. Or not get paid for if someone refunded your book. (Yikes)

The numbers to the left deal with your Free Promotions. Or other words, not going to get paid for. Amazon gives you the opportunity to give your book for free to garner reviews and get your name out there. Cool huh?

The numbers towards the middle (Borrows) tells you that you're going to get paid for books that others lend or read for free with the Prime program. That money is coming from Amazon itself. That's ONLY if you enroll in the KDP program. That just means you promise to exclusively publish with them. If you don't, well tough cookies...LOL!

Since this is my first fiction short story out there, I'm incredibly nervous. I have been trying to perfect the novel the best way I know how. Yeah...I guess you could say that I'm terrified of the horrible reviews. But it's the only way I'm going to know I'm good. Yes, it is true that not everyone is going to like you. You could give this book out with million dollar checks, and I would bet all the money in my bank account (you're welcome to $39.17 right now) that you will still get negative reviews. Probably because you wrote paper checks and you didn't overnight the cash you little, silly, naive author, you!!!!

Or it's just your book really sucks but they wanted to thank you for the million bucks anyway.

I just placed my book for a free promotion last night and the reviews will be coming in shortly. I'm very ill right now and can barely move without chest pain. In fact, I should be writing this in a hospital bed instead of my own bed but what are you going to do, huh? I would just ask reviewers to be fair, not name call such as garbage, or filth, rubbish for my British readers. If you didn't like the novel, just state the reasons why and move on, especially if you're just looking for the free million dollar check that comes along with the book.

Look out for that in the eight edition. ; )

My new book Sex Therapy is now on sale on Amazon.com!!! Be sure to check it out!!!!

Life in the Windy City is pretty monotonous for Ronald Carrington. As a successful fund manager for a mutual fund company, he is clearly a man that lives life to the fullest.

After receiving a life changing phone call one day, he decides to live life on the edge and on his terms. After falling for a stripper named Smokey, he finds himself caught up in a world of drugs, addiction, and sex.

Things continue to spiral out of control when three female college students go missing, including the sister of Ronald's co-worker. Ronald finds himself searching for the truth but he's he has no time to spare.

Can Ronald's search for answers cost him his life?

1. How does it feel to complete another book?

I am very excited to have completed my first novella and have it published! It started off as an idea about a successful man falling in love with a stripper and it kind of went along from there.

2. What genre does the book fit best?

Suspense/Mystery/Drama.

3. Would you consider yourself as a mystery writer now?

Not really. I consider myself to be a story teller. I like to tell stories. One day I'm writing a comedic piece and the next day my characters can be in tears. I personally think that a writer should write for a specific genre first, especially if first starting off. Define your voice up front and your fans will recognize and appreciate your work.

The next project that I'm working on is a dramedy. You really don't see that term much when it comes to novels. That's a TV thing, but when I began to write seriously, I wrote screenplays. I completed three screenplays so far and two television series.

Even though I'm not taking my own advice, I can't help it at times. I get an idea for a story and just go with it. I don't know what else I can say. 

4. Was it hard to make that transition?

In the beginning, yes. Screenplays and teleplays are written in a very specific format. It's totally different from writing prose. It took months before I felt comfortable writing with my "fiction" voice. But writing as a screenwriter for so long, helped me tell a story better. Hollywood can be harsh at times, but you have to take the criticism with a grain of salt.

5. What advice would you give up and coming writers?

You have to write everyday to perfect your craft. I punish my family members and friends and have them read my stuff. The more I write, the better my writing got. I'm serious people, if you want to be a writer, you've got to practice your craft. Lots of people dream of that writer lifestyle. Getting up in the morning with a cup of tea and sitting down in front of your computer, pounding out manuscript after manuscript. Some writers never really leave their houses.

I wouldn't call writing a glamorous job or anything, but it takes dedication and practice!!!

6. What's the worse thing you hate about writing?

The criticism....the unfair criticism. Writers become very attached to their work. To criticize it could be akin to slapping someone's child across the face in the grocery store. You have these unknown people making personal attacks against you.

It is MORE than fair to criticize someone's work but passing judgment on people is unacceptable. I totally get that I can read a story and get something good out of while the person next to me totally hates the book. My fiance and I go back and forth over things like that all the time. Not everyone is going to like you. But please keep your criticism to the work at hand. Not the author personally.