Tag: Books

PADDs and dead trees

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I got a new toy yesterday. It’s a Samsung Tab 2. It’s just like my phone, only bigger and better (except for the lack of 3G, that is).

Anyway, Seymour and I made a deal a couple of months back – he could get a new toy if I could and yesterday, I finally procured said toy. I’ve been playing around with it after downloading a bunch of apps last night and I think I love it. Sure, I would have adored an Asus Slider or Transformer, but I’ve had good luck with my two Samsung phones and the Asus tablets were out of my price range.

Seymour was astonished when I told him what I wanted. “You want an e-reader?!” he exclaimed. “I thought you hated them!” And therein lies my dilemma.

Thoughts on self-publishing

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I generally try to stay out of the self-pub vs. trad. pub debates because so often, what starts off as reasoned analysis/debate devolves into screeches of, “My way is better than your way!” or “My way is the only right way to do it!”  Both ways have their pluses and minuses.  For me, I think traditional publishing is the way to go and I hope I’ll be able to succeed in it.  However, if it’s not meant to be, I “have lots of friends who will help” me “through the self-publishing process,” according to one Jeremy Rodden, self-publisher extraordinaire.  I’ve been assured that I’ll do great and I’m inclined to believe him because he’s done quite well for himself in the self-pub arena, as has our mutual friend, Lisa Wiedmeier. With that in mind…

The writer’s identity

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Writing

My noon hour yesterday was much like many other noon hours at my day job.  I grabbed my computer, my wallet, and headed down the street to the local café-type establishment to quiet the beast inside (because yes, my stomach is a snarling, ferocious beast, foaming at the mouth as it waits, ever-impatient, for the victuals that will eventually slide into its gaping maw).  I took a seat, ordered my food, and withdrew my laptop from its handy-dandy carrying case to work on my story (and when that failed, to at least continue looking over one of five samples sent to me by a friend for some vicious red-penning).  As I was trying to solve a major plot problem (Ha!), a conversation caught my ear.  One of the waiters was discussing writing with the gal in the booth behind me.  He is a college student majoring in English; she is one of many people who have written a book, only to (likely) have it remain unseen by the masses, covered in dust, and taking up space in her home.  “But I sent it to so-and-so – he writes Christian books, you know – and he thought it was very good!” she proclaimed to half the bar, the waiter, and me.

Ignoring the woman, I asked the waiter what he enjoyed writing and what he wanted to do as a writer.  He was where my interest lay because he is at that point in his life where he still has the world at his fingertips and anything is possible.  Sure, anything is always possible, but at 28 with a husband and four kids, it’s not likely that I’ll be able to study abroad and learn French through immersion or spend a summer backpacking through Germany absorbing local culture anymore.  Anyway, he replied that he had wanted to be a novelist and he liked sci-fi, but that he’d been fighting depression and not writing as prolifically as he’d done before.  I mentioned that I’d just finished a fantasy novel and that my own depression had made me want to lock myself in my room to write.  Naturally, this piqued the woman’s interest, so she turned her curiosity away from the waiter and onto me.  “I’m sorry, what do you do?” Click here to find out!

Out like a lamb

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Well, the old adage rang true this year – March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb.  A sheared lamb, but a lamb nevertheless.  It was supposed to be in the mid-70s yesterday, but I don’t think it even reached 60°.  Thank goodness I had the kids dressed warm when we left to run errands.  The day was mostly cloudy, but at least it wasn’t raining.

The last few days have seen quite a surge in views here, which has me pretty excited.  I don’t know what it is that’s attracting so many lovely visitors (aside from posting more regularly than I have in a long while), but whatever it is, I’ll try to keep doing it. Formatting guidelines and what one publishing house had to say are this-a-way!

This post is chock-full of books!

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Things that gave me a good laugh this morning:

All I want is a library full of books and a prince telling me to pick one*…

*Book, that is.  Not monks.

Also:

TC: Mommy, can we go outside to play?
Me: No, it’s all mucky and gross outside.
TP: Can we sit on the porch?
Me: No, you really don’t need to be out there.

Both give me their best pout.

Me: If you really want to go outside, one of you can get the diaper bag and the other can get my computer bag and you can take them out to the van for me.
TC & TP: Okay!

Oh, kids. 🙂

Speaking of kids, Cricket’s new favorite word is book.  If all we did all day long was read Clifford’s First Halloween, I think he’d be in heaven.  I, on the other hand, have grown quite tired of reading yet again about Clifford going trick-or-treating dressed as a ghost, getting a bath after eating a candy apple, and traipsing around a haunted house stuck in a glove.  But this, too, shall pass, and I know from experience that once these days are gone, I’ll miss them terribly.  Cricket’s a boy after my own heart.  I’ve got a couple of pictures from story time a few days ago that I’ve been meaning to post on Facebook, but I haven’t done it yet.  Maybe I’ll get to it over the weekend, if I’m not buried under a mountain of laundry.  *sigh*

In other book news, you can now pre-order White Mountain, Book 1 of the Darkling Chronicles by Sophie E. Tallis.  The book is set to come out in September from Safkhet Publishing.  I predict it’ll sell faster than hot chocolate in a blizzard. 🙂

Also, I think I might have fixed a major plot problem in The Lokana Chronicles.  Some more detail was needed in one place and hopefully I’ve fixed it now.  I’ve tried twice already; I hope the third time’s the charm.  But if it’s not, well, then I’ll just have to put my stubborn nature to good use and make it bend to my will.  The Great and Powerful Seymour will yet be pleased. 🙂  I say that only because I think his crit made a lot of sense and I’m determined to tackle the problem head-on.  As it says over at der Wendighaus, “Time to load the guns, brew the ink, and get to work because I am a writer and I am done fucking around.”

I think that’s about all I’ve got this gray Friday afternoon.  Have a happy weekend!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Please, Mom? Just one more?

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My friend Tara wrote an awesome post today about her favorite childhood books after I mentioned something on Twitter about reading to my kids.  Cricket and Thumper had some lovely story time this morning while drinking their morning milk and it was so much fun.  Cricket is just beginning to get interested in books and Thumper…well, he likes to chew on them, same as his big brother. 🙂  This morning’s book of choice (and every other opportunity’s book of choice) was Clifford’s First Halloween by Norman Bridwell.  I loved the Clifford books growing up and I love the show on PBS, too.  Same with Arthur – that lovable little aardvark’s adventures with pals Binky, Muffy, and Francine entertained me through many a rainy afternoon growing up.  When I was a little older and living with my aunt, the show on PBS entertained my cousin, too.  (I, of course, was much too cool for Arthur by then – at 13, it was all about the soaps.   Eric Brady, you will forever melt my little fangirl heart.

*squee*

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The e-book version of Tuesday Daydreams is now available for Kindle!  You can find it here or by searching for it in the Kindle store.  Right now this is as far as I’ll go with the e-book version, but maybe next weekend when I will hopefully have more peace and quiet, I can get it formatted for other e-readers as well.  Gretchen, any pointers would be much appreciated!  Oh, yeah – I still have to read the Smashwords Style Guide I downloaded.  That would probably help. 🙂

Between my excitement over having finally released a title and my fatigue from driving all over two counties today and my frustration with my oldest son, I’m a bit all over the place at the moment.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see an adult beverage and a scotcheroo with my name on them.  Happy weekend!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Authors to Watch and more

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Ah, authors to watch.  There must be a jillion of them.  I, however, am referring to ten certain authors who were featured yesterday in an interview by Tricia Drammeh.  She asked the question, “Why do you write fantasy?” and received some great answers from some great authors, including yours truly (although I make no claims as to my greatness).  Check it out!  Each interviewee provided links to a variety of sites at which you can check out their work and/or learn more about them.

In other news, rumor has it that the release of Promises, the second Timeless Series novel, will be delayed.  Fans of Lisa Wiedmeier’s fantasy series will now have to wait till the end of May to continue following Cheyenne’s adventures.

I’ve almost finished the Kindle version of Tuesday Daydreams.  Learning the formatting stuff was easy enough for the most part, but I still have a couple of glitches to work out here and there.  I hope to have the Kindle version available for purchase by the end of the week (by which I mean the end of the calendar week, not tomorrow).  I had Chinese for lunch today and ate my fortune cookie on the way back to work.  I had to chuckle as I read my fortune:Channel your energy into something positive.  I’d say all this work on my writing is definitely something positive. 🙂

Last but not least, the rain has come at long last and everything is turning a lovely shade of green.  I adore spring. ♥

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Tuesday Daydreams is now on Amazon!

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That’s right, folks, you now have two places to procure my dreamy poetry anthology, Tuesday Daydreams.  It’s available at CreateSpace and now it’s available at Amazon as well!  I’m working on formatting it for e-book publication as we speak and further updates will be made when, you know, I have something new to report. 🙂

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Save the Hobbit and other odds and ends

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Once again, America’s overly-litigious nature has reared its ugly head.  The target this time is a small pub in Southampton called The Hobbit.

Lawyers representing the filmmakers in charge of the movie The Hobbit are suing a pub in Southampton that has been known as The Hobbit for the last two decades.  Evidently they’re concerned that said pub will infringe on their rights or something.  I think it’s ridiculous that they’re trying to force the pub to change its name.  For the full story, check out the pub’s Facebook page, Save the Hobbit, Southampton, and show your support of the pub by liking the page.

In other news, my good friend Lisa Wiedmeier wrote a guest post over at Aaron Patterson’s blog about the recent Amazon success of her novel, Cheyenne.  It’s a great article and one I highly recommend checking out if you’re interested in self-publishing.  Her next book, Promises, is due out in May and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

And finally, if you’re looking for a bit of fun on this lovely Friday afternoon, head on over to Rachelle Gardner’s blog and check out her St. Patrick’s Day haiku contest.  You can find my entry in her comments section.

That’s all for me today!  Time to call it quits and enjoy the afternoon. 🙂

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.