About Independent Authors and Sharon’s Corner BookstoreIndependent authors frequently self-publish or use small independent publishers that are not part of large conglomerates. I am Sharon and I am an independent author. Welcome to my website! This site is primarily a shopping search engine that helps people find and compare books online. That sterile environment doesn’t appeal to me. At heart I am a small town country girl and I love the independent bookstores that reflect the interests and values of their owners. My desire is to create the atmosphere of the friendly, helpful neighborhood bookstore online. Hence “Sharon’s Corner Bookstore” was born. This site has been a “labor” of love and so “born” seems correct terminology to me, a mother and grandmother. My parents instilled basic honesty in me and I have an innate distrust of “politically correct” terms such as “visions and missions.” I do take strong pride in my personal values, and my objective is to promote independent authors~~like myself!
Values: I value personal and professional integrity. I value the intellectual rights of independent authors and believe they should keep all of their royalties. I value an individual's desire to buy a book, not pay a middleman high overhead costs. Goals: To provide a site that charges for advertising only, no commission fees. To provide the general public with good reading material, by independent authors, at a fair price delivered to their door. Disputes: Customers buy directly from the independent authors. Disputes should first be dealt with by those two parties. If a customer is unable to get a satisfactory response from the independent author I will negotiate on their behalf.
I was born in Monmouth, Illinois, my mother's hometown. My father joined the Coast Guard as I turned three, so my older sister and I grew up as military brats.
I met my first pony when I was about three. She was one of the ponies that walk the endless circles at county fairs. When my allotted time was up I hung on tight and my parents allowed me additional rides. When they ran out of quarters (oops, showing my age) I was taken off the pony, screaming. I knew I belonged there with that pony!
At each new duty station my parents found ways of letting horses into my life.
They encouraged the reading habit by reading to us, and I remember Black Beauty being read as my bedtime story. Black Beauty was the most formative book of my young life. It showed me that animals have feelings, needs and wants.
When I couldn’t be with horses I read about them. I loved horse fiction, but always wished the writer would weave a little practical information about horses in the story line.
Marriage, family and work (dialysis nurse) filled the next part of my life. We raised three daughters and a son with horses and books, both of which remains important in their adult lives. Forty years after reading Black Beauty I read another formative book, Taos of Equus. This was a very enlightening book for me.
When writing my first book, “Honey, A Pony’s Story,” I remembered my desire as a child to learn as well as be entertained. I strived to inform young readers as I told them Honey’s story.
Honey was published by www.publishamerica.com. I am pleased with the quality of the book. My younger grandchildren enjoy having it read to them.
I believe there are many independent authors who, like me, have books languishing on websites, undiscovered by potential readers. That is what inspired me to start this website. Sharon
My Father, John, has helped me "find my voice," setting the tone and atmosphere I wanted for this website. As my editor, his corrections of grammar and punctuations are invaluable to me. Sharon _________________________________________________________________
I am Sharon’s father, and one of her forum editors, mostly a family group that exchanges ideas and views about all that is horsey. Born in Wisconsin in 1929 and raised in Madison. After a year of college, fell in love with Mary Lu of the lovely auburn tresses and married at 18. Celebrated our 61st anniversary in April, 2008. Joined the Navy, had our first daughter Anitra, then university for another year. While studying, I got an early itch to be a writer. I still scratch that itch. After Sharon was born, Divine Guidance led me to enlist in the Coast Guard. Earned a commision, then Aviator's wings, had fine career as a Search and Rescue pilot at five units.
While at Salem, Massachusetts, we were finally able to fulfill our promise to Sharon to get her a pony. Retired as Commander, 1974, took a year long cruise on a 40-foot houseboat, circumnavigating the eastern U.S., generating my first book as an independent author. Freelance writing sporadic on active duty, but with free time, scratched my itch, writing non-fiction, fiction, essays and two books. Sold over a hundred to magazines, newspapers, professional journals, and a compilation of inspirational fiction. Sharon’s fine poem, "A Sailor and a Horsewoman", on the essays shelf of her corner bookstore, is ample proof that some of my writing genes and love of sailing were passed on to her.
I have lived a full and satisfying life, have oodles of great grandchildren, and yes, horses have been a part of it. John _________________________________________________________________ My name is Paula, and i am one of the editors. I have dreamed and breathed horses since I was 5 years old and had my first pony ride. I "was" a horse from the age of eight to the age of nine as I pulled my brother and sister in wagons and gave them rides on my hands and knees. Mostly, I was wild and they had to catch and tame me. I had the whinny, snort and pawing down to a fine art, could run like the wind and jump as high as my chest. (Came in handy for Track.)
From ten to eleven I traced, copied and drew every horse picture I could get my hands on. I could cut them out with the precision of a surgeon. My stable was an empty Kleenex box and I played with those horses until they fell apart. Instead of Paper Dolls, I played "Paper Horses." My Grandpa let me ride his plow horse, Trixie, as he plowed the rows for their yearly garden and he always kept a horse for us grandkids to ride. My Dad was in the Air Force so the thirty days leave each summer, when we visited "home," was the highlight of my year because I got to ride. My Dad went overseas and we had to stay behind. We went "home" for the next two years. Grandpa let me - ME - keep Ginger. I got to feed her, groom her and ride her and ride her and ride her. She was the most beautiful, wonderful horse in the whole world. She was a Buckskin beauty with a star, huge liquid-brown eyes and the thickest mane and tail that I kept combed to a silky sheen. I was in Heaven - Horse Heaven! - except for the darn weeds I had to hoe out of the potato patch before I could ride. Then Ginger died giving birth to her foal and my world fell apart. I had lost the love of my life. My Uncle Jack brought Midge to me, a liver-chestnut Welsh. She was sweet, but she wasn't my forever-love and had a totally different outlook on being buddies.
Dad came home and all went back to normal - moving, new schools, new friends, no horses. It was seventeen years before I got myself another horse, then 12 years passed and brought a life-altering change in my health. Now I have ponies, Lord Quintin MacKay and Cate's Taffy, from Personal Ponies, Ltd. Look them up at www.personalponies.org. It is a great program. That's how I met Sharon and, since I've always been an avid reader and would rather read about horses and ponies on any level from Sheltie the Pony, Black Beauty, ALL of "The Black Stallion" series to Xenophon's writings on this amazing animal, I fell right into the Book Review section of her website and enjoy being one of her editors. There are so many great books by independent authors, and it is my pleasure to read them. When Sharon completes her aims for this far-reaching project, it will be a prime destination for independent authors and horse lovers and others who are searching for answers, information, entertainment, how-to, who-to and so on and so forth. I'm glad I get to be here. I would enjoy hearing from other horse lovers and readers at paulaaudean@eritter.net. Happy Horsing Around and Happy Reading! Paula _________________________________________________________________ I believe all those hours Paula spent drawing paid off, at least for me. I described the logo I wanted for HBPS.com and she replied “let me try.” That logo now graces the bottom of every page. Thank you, Paula! Sharon
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