Remakes Blogest, Instagram, SoundCloud, DLP Swag, and the Holly Jolly Holiday Show

Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner.

Remakes – most of them suck. Now and then, one comes along that is as good as, if not better, than the original. And after all of the bad ones we’ve endured, we want to know about some good ones.

On November 13, 2017, blog about your favorite remake: movie (or television show into movie and vice versa), song, or book – or all three! Post a YouTube video and links where we can find these treasures. Tell us why THIS remake doesn’t suck!

I knew instantly what I would pick!

The first band I ever fell in love with was Electric Light Orchestra. A good friend gave me a 45 record of their hit Turn to Stone for my 12th birthday and I was hooked. I immediately began buying all of their older albums, including their very first, No Answer.

I immediately latched onto the one hit from that album - 10538 Overture.

Over the years, it remained my most favorite ELO song and one of my top ten favorite songs of all time.

And then in 2006, Def Leppard released an album called YEAH! On it, they covered some of the songs and bands who had influenced them over the years.

Now, I am a HUGE Def Leppard fan. I’ve seen them five times in concert and Bringin’ On The Heartbreak is one of my most favorite songs. When I realized one of the songs they covered was 10538 Overture, I was ecstatic. One of my favorite bands covering one of my most favorite songs - it doesn’t get any better than that!

Most of you know the song from the movie American Hustle. They played it every time the movie won an Oscar, which just delighted me to no end.

I’m going to give you three versions of the song.

The first is the original recording remastered:

This is the 2000 performance, which sticks closely to the original, plus it has the lyrics:

And this is Def Leppard’s rendition: 

ELO is a band that resonates with me on many levels. I discovered them the year after my father died. So this song holds a lot of magic for me. And Def Leppard’s remake honors those memories.

What remakes matter to you?

Dancing Lemur Press on the move!

Dancing Lemur Press will be at the Holly Jolly Holiday Show in Kinston, NC:

Friday, November 17th, 10 am - 6 pm

Saturday, November 18th, 10 am - 4 pm

Woodmen Community Center

2602 W. Vernon Avenue

Kinston, NC 28504

It’s a great opportunity to buy unique and special Christmas gifts.

Dancing Lemur Press recently updated its merchandise page with new products and an easier flow -

 DLP Merchandise

Playing cards, mugs, and t-shirts - with Christmas coming up, these items would make great gifts. 

They are also perfect for events or as giveaway swag.

Dancing Lemur Press recently ventured onto Instagram. 

In addition to book-related images, I’ll be posting other fun and inspiring photos. (If you are on Instagram, please follow me!)

We’ve also added samples of all of our audio books to SoundCloud. 

If you want to listen to a sample before buying, this is a great place to do it. 

If you are on SoundCloud, please follow us.

Who’s ready for some Christmas shopping?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group, Tips for Writers & Others, Giveaway

It’s time for another edition of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, founded by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

November 1 question - Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I have never participated. Especially in the past 4-5 years, November has been crunch time for a lot of projects. We’ve also spent a couple Thanksgivings with my husband’s parents. Toss in the fact that I don’t have time to work on my own stuff now, let alone set aside 2-3 hours a day. Business to run, freelance work to do, and clients who need me! Maybe someday.


The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology Contest ends today. Be sure to send your entry by midnight tonight.

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I’d like to share some things from the perspective of a publisher that might help some of you.

Sometimes a manuscript isn’t quite up to where it should be and the publisher asks for revisions. Once a revised manuscript is sent, unless the publisher says otherwise, that was it. If version 2.0 didn’t entice them, don’t keep revising and resending or pestering them. Submit to someone else or start a new project.

Most authors don’t have much say in their cover. With the big five, an author might be shown two concepts, and even when he/she picks example A, the publisher still might run with example B. Smaller publishers are more likely to work with an author on concepts and design, but the final say in the cover art always resides with the publisher. They call the shots since it’s their money being invested.

Don’t send the same query twice to a publisher. They keep records and will know if it’s a repeat submission. Repeat submissions when it’s not a requested revision will get you blacklisted. Same goes for mass emails.

It’s polite to respond to emails. Some publishers - and most book reviewers - don’t, and it’s unprofessional. DLP responds to every single query, no matter how bad. (Even though we state that if queries lack what we request, we won’t respond.) “We get a lot of inquiries and will only respond if we’re interested” - lazy! Between my personal email and DLP, I get 100-300 emails a day, and I still respond to inquiries. So to other publishers and book reviewers, I say suck it up, show some manners, and respond to emails.

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I’d also like to share a giveaway:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Revolution 2050

by Jay Chalk

Giveaway ends November 08, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Is NaNo a big win for you?

Do you reply to emails?

If you missed it, I posted my Recommend Frightful Good Reads at The Circle of Friends on Monday.