Long Ago Love Songs

Welcome to Sally's book-a-day-for-2017 blog. If unfamiliar with the blog, scroll down.

Long Ago Love Songs  (Post 96)

Long Ago Love Songs (2016) began at some time around 2004 or 2005 in a collection of retro-Victorian fantasy verse. I'd joined a writing site called Fanstory which I believe was originally started for fan fiction. By the time I joined, it was more general with most of the posted work being original. It has changed over the years, and for a long time now writers making posts have been able to choose whether a piece should be public (searchable via google) or not. If pieces are not searchable, they can be available only for signed in members to see, or, even more secure, available only to the writer. I'm still a member, as I find it a good place to keep copies of poems and stories. I have quite often been able to retrieve a piece lost in a computer malfunction.

   The Long Ago Love Songs was just a collection I did for fun, but in 2016 I decided to bring out a privately printed paperback version plus an ebook. Of course, once I started compiling and designing the book, I found myself writing a few extras to add to the 22 poems. The "few" extras became many, so the final book has 58, plus an introduction and an afterword. 

   The pieces range from short pieces like Herein I (24 lines) to ballads like The Bridge of Themselves (150 lines), and The Hollander's Daughter and Flower of the North which are even longer. 

   I wanted to illustrate the book, but I had already been down that route with an earlier one (Myths of the Mind) and found it both expensive and time consuming. Therefore, I used legally free clip art, much of it vintage. Some of the pieces were so charming they inspired some of the poems. I also commissioned or was given permission to use a few others. I've pasted some below, as examples.

Old clip art used for "Spinster of this Parish"

Vintage postcard from The Graphics Fairy used for "The Listening Gypsy"

1950s-style clip art used for "Round We Go"

A piece by a Fan Art artist, who granted permission for its use, used for "Fairy Kind"

A commissioned piece used for "Leaving Ben Innis"

   Most of the clip art came as small files, and I wanted a colour cover, so I purchased one from https://selfpubbookcovers.com. If you're interested in reading more about this book (or in purchasing a paper back or e-copy, go HERE.  To see the Pinterest page, go HERE. 

About the Blog 

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service, post a comment and I'll get back to you.