Indie carnival Listopia demystified [what lists mean the most to you?] fri 01/06/12

Lists.
I live my life through lists.
To Do lists.
Shopping lists.
People waiting for kittens from our beautiful BSHs, lists.
And an intriguing new list which I have just been introduced to is a sort of, You Write What You Are, list. The goal of this list is to target your reading audience and so expand your market. Nick Thacker.com » How to Find the Perfect Audience for Your Book, And Sell It to Them has the full details.
But my favourite lists have to be those concerning books; lists of books I am planning to write, books I have lost myself in and books I can’t wait to read.
Like most writers I have numerous books in my head that are just waiting, some more patiently than others, for me to sit down and allow them to take form on paper. As I put the finishing touches to The Missing Link, the second book in the Dragon World series I feel the unwritten books shuffle and jostle for position inside my head like billiard-balls. I cling to the words of Jules Renard in the hope I can do them justice.
‘The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it.’ Jules Renard, 1895.
So simple, what could go wrong? Ah, dream on, Maureen!

My favourite books could be narrowed down by a few of my favourite authors.
Kim Harrison; the Rachel Morgan series.
Jonathan Stroud; The Bartimaeus Sequence.
Patricia Briggs; the Mercy Thompson books.
Kelly Armstrong; Women of the Other World.
And published on Smashwords, Dana Donovan; the Detective Marcella Mysteries.

Then there are the books I must read. Don’t misunderstand, I never read anything out of duty. If someone says, ‘Maureen, you must read this book, it is the epitome of new thinking, constructed in original prose’ or ‘mind improving’, I usually run a mile in the other direction. I have found to my cost and many a wasted hour that ‘duty’ books leave me cold, worse; semi-comatose. I only read those books that capture my imagination, inspire me and transport me to wonderful locations.
A couple of the books that promise to do just that and which I do intend to read are published on Smashwords,
Dana Donovan; Bones of a Witch.
Elizabeth Mock; Shatter, which is the first book from The Children of Man. I intend to read them all!

If you love fantasy and adventure and being transported to another world when you read then try some of the books on my favourite lists. I promise there is not one ‘Duty’ book amongst them.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	Heather Self	4.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga	6.	Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	8.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9.	Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series	10.	Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11.	Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey	12.	M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping
13.	Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler	14.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
15.	Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy	16.	Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
17.	Courtney Cole Writes	18.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
19.	Ella James	20.	Maureen Murrish
21.	Valerie Sloan