Friday, May 31, 2013

Writing Services for Website Content

A good first impression is still very important and your website is often the first place people will encounter your company and it’s products and services.

Your on line copy reflects your professionalism or lack of it. You need to take pride in what you have on the web. If it appears you don’t really care what your site looks like, the customer will assume your products may be similarly slipshod. 
I offer both hourly rates and flat fees for website content writing, based on the requirements of the project. Please contact me directly for rates and fees for copywriting for website content.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

New Non-fiction Titles - U.S. Armed Forces: Army Rangers

The Army Rangers are part of the U.S. Army, the largest of the five branches of the U.S. military. This is an AV2 media enhanced book. A unique book code printed on page 2 unlocks multimedia content. This book comes alive with video, audio, weblinks, slide shows, activities, hands-on experiments, and much more. Published by Weigl Publishers in July, 2013.

You can learn more about U.S. Armed Forces: Army Rangersas well as my many other non-fiction titleson my website.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Tips for Writers Part Four - What If?

One of the best story starter ideas can be to simply wonder ‘what if’. What if you received a letter telling you you’d been accepted into a school for wizards? Or discovered a door into another universe at the back of your bedroom closet? Or a flying boy dressed all in green appeared at your bedroom window, inviting you to take a journey to a magical land? 

Perhaps you followed a rabbit down a hole and ended up in a bizarre underground universe? What if you met someone who’d been imprisoned inside a painting for over three hundred years? If you could travel back in time, where would you go? What would you do if you had a clone for the day? Whether this is how Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or The Alchemist’s Portrait first came about isn’t the point, but rather how this type of thinking sets the thought process in motion.

On my website, you can find details of my coaching programscreative writing workshopsonline writing workshopsediting services, ghost writing and copywriting for business.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

New Non-fiction Titles - U.S. Armed Forces: Air Force Special Operations

Air Force Special Operations are part of the U.S. Air Force, one of the five main branches of the U.S. military. This is an AV2 media enhanced book. A unique book code printed on page 2 unlocks multimedia content. This book comes alive with video, audio, weblinks, slide shows, activities, hands-on experiments, and much more. Published by Weigl Publishers in July, 2013.

You can learn more about U.S. Armed Forces: Air Force Special Operationsas well as my many other non-fiction titleson my website.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Copywriting Services for Business

The way in which you communicate with your customers is a vital component  of your business and well written content can be the difference between success and failure. 


I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and market segments and offer a variety of copywriting services including website content, blogs and newsletters, social media including Facebook and Twitter, brochures, direct mail, sales letters, press releases, newspaper and magazine advertising and more. 
Contact me for details regarding copywriting services and my portfolio of completed projects.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Tips for Writers Part Three - In the Beginning


Even if you are really determined to work on your writing and have set time aside for it, there will be days when nothing seems to work to get you started. An interesting exercise to get a story moving is to use a collection of random objects drawn from a bag. The idea is then to create story, in which these objects must all be used as a significant part of the narrative. It’s a method I use on a regular basis with children in younger grades at school visits and during summer camps and parties, but can easily be adapted to an older audience. 

For example, you could place a set of keys, a hairbrush, a pen, a cell phone, an apple, a sock, a postcard from the Caribbean, a toy bear, an address book, a broken pair of sunglasses, a post-it note, a watch or indeed any other collection of random items in a bag. You then draw out four or five at random and use them to create your story. This type of exercise always sparks the imagination of children and you’d be surprised at what you might come up with when confronted with a set of seemingly unconnected objects. 

You could even set yourself a time limit to force yourself to devise the beginning, middle and end of the story. The final result may not be best-seller material, but the process will certainly stimulate your imagination and like some of the other ideas we have examined, it might be just enough to get your creativity moving again. 


On my website, you can find details of my coaching programscreative writing workshopsonline writing workshopsediting services, ghost writing and copywriting for business.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Study Guides and Classroom Resources


Study Guides and Classroom Resources provide some ideas regarding how each of my novels can be used for student projects in the classroom. You can access the Study Guides here

  • Character Creation 
  • Time Travel Stories 
  • Historical Eras 
  • The Superhero Genre 
  • Ideas and inspiration
  • Ancient Mysteries 

The Puzzles page features word searches related to the text and character names in each novel, plus you can also access the Super Scavenger Search, where the answers to a series of mind boggling questions are hidden in different pages all over my website.
Class sets of books are also always available from me directly at discounted prices, depending on the number of books ordered.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

School Programs, Presentations and Workshops

I offer a variety of presentationsauthor in residence programs and conduct workshops for children at schools. 

I offer a variety of presentations for grades three to eight, but can work with grades one and two as well. I cover such topics as where ideas come from, story structure, editing and revision, character development, time travel stories, history and research, plus many other aspects of writing and publishing.
I will present to around one hundred students at a time, although we can also look at workshops with smaller groups or individual classes. Each of my novels provide ideas for classroom projects and you may find some suggestions on the Study Guides page on my website. 

Contact me for details of fees and availability for school presentations.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Coaching for Writers



My coaching program is designed to help you progress as a writer. You decide what you want to work on during a personalized, one on one relationship. For example, I can be your coach for just one month or we can establish a month-to-month arrangement, depending on your schedule and expectations. 

Just a few examples of topics we can cover during the coaching period are point of view, creating characters, developing dialogue, story structure, editing and revision, marketing and promotion and submissions to publishers. However, I am very flexible and happy to discuss your own unique requirements and areas where you feel that you may need the most help. 

In addition to coaching, on my website you can learn more about my other services for writers, such as online workshops for adultsmanuscript evaluation and online workshops for children and young adults.

Monday, May 20, 2013

PlayWriting Camp this July with the Calgary Arts Summer School Association

PlayWriting Camp will once again will take place this summer from July 22 to 26 with the Calgary Arts Summer School Association

This is a half-day camp (either morning or afternoon) for students ages 7 to 12. In a dramatic and fun-filled week, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. 

Further details and registration information for PlayWriting Camp can be found here.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Hot Rocks - Gemstones To Die For



Check out the latest online article, entitled Hot Rocks - Gemstones To Die For.

Diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds are among the most prized gemstones known to mankind. The brilliant colours of these sparkling stones have fascinated us for a very long time. 

Some of the most famous ones have been deemed to have healing or magical powers or even carry a deadly curse. Large sums of money have been paid for these stunning stones over the centuries, but lesser mortals can view some of these beautiful baubles in museums, usually through bulletproof glass. 

Some of the priciest ones are still in private hands, so just in case you feel like putting in an offer, this article takes a look at some of the world’s most valuable gemstones.

Writing for Children and Young Adults - Classes at Mount Royal University May/June


Writing for Children and Young Adults. Evening classes at Mount Royal University in Calgary from May 29 to June 19, 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm. 

Explore the process of writing books for children and young adults aged 8 to 12. Focus on structure, character development and research, and their importance in your stories. Examine how to turn a creative story idea into a marketable, finished manuscript.

Register is available here at the Mount Royal University website.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Tips for Writers Part Two - Creating the Spark


Free writing, which is also sometimes referred to as stream-of-consciousness writing, involves writing continuously for a set period of time. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and even a topic are largely irrelevant. Although the process may appear to result in mostly unusable material, it can help a writer get to grips with their subject matter or to overcome the dreaded writer’s block. If you’re a regular writer, whether of stories for children, magazine articles, non-fiction pieces or something else entirely, you most likely already have a topic in mind, but you can certainly adapt the free writing method to suit your own purposes. 

It can be a good exercise to see if you can write a certain number of words in a day, but don’t be too conservative and don’t be too concerned with the fact that you don’t consider your ideas to be good enough. You also don’t need to think too much about editing and revising at this stage either, since you can do that later. When you are engaged in the exercise, the objective is just to write as much as possible in the time you have allotted. You may decide to get a certain word count completed in that day or actually set yourself a time limit. Working against the clock may give you the incentive you need to get the job done. A thousand words, for example, may at first seem a little daunting, but is actually very achievable. 

Even if you end up deleting a lot of this text afterwards, you still have the material to work on, no matter how irrelevant some of it may turn out to be. You still have to review the material before you decide which parts to get rid of and in the process, you might get some new ideas for the project or take it in a completely new direction, as you discover that much sought after inspiration.


On my website, you can find details of my coaching programscreative writing workshopsonline writing workshopsediting services, ghost writing and copywriting for business.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Making a Career in Korea - The Korean translation of The Alchemist's Portrait

This is the cover of the Korean translation of The Alchemist's Portrait, my first novel, published back in 2003.

"A school trip to the art gallery at the city museum leads Matthew into an eerie meeting with Peter Glimmer, imprisoned inside his own portrait by his villainous uncle in 1666. 

Entrusted by Peter with recovering the one object that can save the world, Matthew is sent hurtling over 300 years into the past. Encountering magic, mayhem and murder, Matthew also has to contend with Peter’s uncle, the ruthless and seemingly immortal Nicolaas van der Leyden, at every turn, in a desperate race through time to save the future."

The Korean version has a different cover to the original, also shown here. The translated version also has a number of great illustrations throughout the story, unlike the English version. 

Not being able to read Korean, I'm unable to enjoy the newest version of the novel, but I'm sure it's faithful to the original story.

You can learn more about The Alchemist's Portrait , including the historical background to the story, check out reviews of the novel, read an excerpt and try to complete The Alchemist's Portrait puzzle, all on my website.


Hear Here - Listen to Author Readings at simon-rose.com

People are always interested in hearing an author read from their own work. Children in particular, especially those who have read and enjoyed the novels, are usually captivated when an author reads from their own book during a personal appearance at a school, library, literary festival or other event.

Here on my website, you can listen to interviews and readings from The Alchemist's PortraitThe Clone ConspiracyThe Emerald Curse and The Heretic's Tomb, recorded on Calgary's CKUA radio network, plus a reading from The Sorcerer's Letterbox, recorded during my appearance at the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tips for Writers Part One - Getting Started


There appear to be an endless number of sites on the web offering advice on writing, concerning where to get ideas, character development, point of view, working in different genres, story structure, the editing process, how to get publishers and agents to pay attention to you and so on. 

And yet one of the most frequently asked questions, especially for beginners is how to actually get started with your writing? It may seem like a very simple question, but if you can’t actually get started, how can you ever actually make use of all these great tips that published, or at least very knowledgeable and prolific writers, offer all the time? 

Over the coming weeks, I'll be examining some of the ways you can kick-start your creativity, then stay motivated in your quest to get your writing career not only on track, but hopefully into the fast lane as well. And don’t forget, even established writers sometimes have problems getting started on a particular project. Stay tuned.


Monday, May 13, 2013

Summer Camps in Calgary

This July and August, I am once again available for presentations and workshops at summer campsdelivering interactive, lively and fun filled sessions for children in Calgary and the surrounding area. 

In recent years I have appeared at many community camps as a visiting author and presenter, in addition to my work with the Calgary Arts Summer School AssociationSAITEPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, the City of Calgary and many other organizations. 

Contact me directly at www.simon-rose.com for rates and availability for summer camps this July and August.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

PlayWriting Camp this July with the Calgary Arts Summer School Association

PlayWriting Camp will once again will take place this summer from July 22 to 26 with the Calgary Arts Summer School Association

This is a half-day camp (either morning or afternoon) for students ages 7 to 12. In a dramatic and fun-filled week, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. 

Further details and registration information for PlayWriting Camp can be found here.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Coaching for Writers




My coaching program is designed to help you progress as a writer. You decide what you want to work on during a personalized, one on one relationship. For example, I can be your coach for just one month or we can establish a month-to-month arrangement, depending on your schedule and expectations. 

Just a few examples of topics we can cover during the coaching period are point of view, creating characters, developing dialogue, story structure, editing and revision, marketing and promotion and submissions to publishers. However, I am very flexible and happy to discuss your own unique requirements and areas where you feel that you may need the most help. 

In addition to coaching, on my website you can learn more about my other services for writers, such as online workshops for adultsmanuscript evaluation and online workshops for children and young adults.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Author in Residence



For my Author in Residence program, I can be at your school for a week or longer. This allows me to cover topics in much more depth than would be possible during a regular author visit. 


Each of my novels provide ideas for classroom projects and you may find some suggestions on the Study Guides page on my website. 

I have some suggestions for presentations and workshops, but am always pleased to work with teachers and librarians to build sessions best suited to your students. Contact me for details of fees and availability for my Author in Residence program.