Jane's Ride

2011-05-09T10:38:00.001-04:00

My wife, the love of my life, passed away last Friday evening. The following is her obituary.

Jane Kennedy Sutton loving wife, mother, sister, grandma, and author passed away May 6, 2011 in Fort Myers, Fl.

Survived by husband Kim Sutton, daughter Heather Sutton-Lewis, sister Terry Cromie, grandson Sebastian Sutton-Lewis, son-in-law Christopher Lewis and brother-in-law William Cromie all of Fort Myers, Fl.

Jane was born in San Diego, Ca. January 15, 1949. Graduated from Central High School in Little Rock Ar. In 1966. Jane and her family were world travelers living in Taiwan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, and Saudi Arabia. It was during these sojourns she honed her skills as a writer, her first novel “The Ride” published by ArcheBooks.

Jane was an active member of the Gulf Coast Writers Association and the Florida Writers Association. She was also a prolific blogger where she shared her knowledge of the art(s) of writing.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

Taking a Break

2011-03-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one. - Elbert Hubbard

Due to circumstances beyond my control…OK, maybe that’s a little dramatic. I could have been and should have been in control, but I let things get away from me.

I’ve been out of town for a week and away from the internet. It was wonderfully liberating, but now I am so far behind, I don’t know where to start. Since my energy levels are down, I am going to take a two-week blogcation in order to catch-up on health issues, taxes, family matters, etc.

I do appreciate you stopping by. I hope to see you in a couple of weeks.

My apologies for not having more to offer today.

Tags: Elbert Hubbard, blogcation,

Good News About Bad Reviews

2011-03-21T05:00:00.000-04:00

I never read a book before reviewing it – it prejudices a man so. – Sydney Smith

I’ve been pleased with the reviews I received on The Ride. Yes, I paused here to knock on wood. OK…it was the side of my head, but let’s not worry about details.

Recently I read about an interesting study, Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: Can Negative Reviews Increase Sales? Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking for someone to write a bad review. In fact, I’m hoping that doesn’t happen. I’m only saying the results of the study were intriguing.

The report scrutinized the effects of a New York Times review on the sales of 244 fiction hardcover books. A negative review for established authors led to a 15% decrease in sales. A negative review for unknown authors increased sales by 45%. That’s quite an increase.

For unknown writers, I’m wondering if the increased sales have more to do with being reviewed by the New York Times than the actual content of the review.

Honestly I think a bad review would make me think more like Steve Lehto in his article, “When an Author Meets His Critics.” After receiving positive reviews in the New York Times, Vanity Fair and The Wall Street Journal, he talks about how bad a one-star review on Amazon made him feel.

He went on to check the reviews on some classics. He says:

“To Kill a Mockingbird was called "A BORING, WORTHLESS WRECK OF A BOOK" -- yes, in ALL CAPS -- by one reader, and "one of the most overrated and hyped books of our time," by another. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling better already.”

I suggest reading the entire article, especially if you need a few chuckles after receiving a bad review.

Have you ever given a book a one-star review? How do you handle negative reviews? Would a positive or negative review in the New York Times influence your decision to purchase a book.

Tags: Sydney Smith, negative reviews, New York Times review, Steve Lehto, Amazon, To Kill a Mockingbird

Book Piracy

2011-03-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Piracy has taken a hit, but it’s always going to be a problem. It’s human nature to find ways around paying. – Jimmy Schaeffler

My first encounter with book piracy occurred when I lived in Taiwan in the early 80s. The large bookstores were stocked with inexpensive books—because many were pirated. I admit I didn’t think much about it at the time. I was more concerned about keeping my daughter in reading material. She’d go through books like I’d go through potato chips.

I’m also guilty of passing along favorite books to friends and family which I know deprives the author of royalty. So I guess you could say I should go around with an eye patch and say, “Arrgh, matey.”

However, I think the problem of printed book piracy pales in comparison to illegal e-book downloads. According to an article the Guardian.co.uk:

"A campaign is needed to educate the new wave of e-reader owners that downloading illegal ebooks from torrent sites is theft, amid signs that the piracy of books is increasing, authors claim.

“Crime writer David Hewson, author of the Italy-set Nic Costa novels, said a campaign along the lines of "People Who Love Books Don't Steal Books" was urgently required – because readers who consider themselves his fans are downloading pirated copies of his ebooks and audiobooks.”

The article goes on to say:

“Authors' incomes – never sizeable, except for a lucky minority – have been squeezed over the past two years, with the drop in publisher advances. Hewson said authors now face an erosion of their earnings from multiple directions, whether from the fact that library Public Lending Right doesn't cover the loans of ebooks and audiobooks, or the new practice of "Lendle-ing", joining ebook communities to take advantage of Amazon's US free loan facility on Kindle. "What we earn is being chipped away," he said. "I do know people who are thinking: 'Is it worth carrying on?'"

By the way, for those like me who didn’t know, “torrent,” according to eHow , is a type of computer file that usually ends in the extension .torrent and allows a computer to track files and download pieces of the files from other users across the Internet using a BitTorrent client. I understand you pay to join these sites and can then download books, music, videos and games without the author/creator receiving a dime.

An article in the wsj.com addressed the online clubs such as BookLending.com and Lendle.me saying:

“Previously, Kindle and Nook readers were largely limited to sharing e-books with friends because two users needed to know each other's email address to initiate a loan. The new sites give e-book readers access to a larger network of people and a larger selection of books.

“The lending sites have drawbacks. One is limited selection. Most major book publishers haven't made their e-books lendable, and the books can be lent only once and for only 14 days. That means that with every successful loan, the sites' available library shrinks unless new users with books to lend join.”

The article has a detailed chart showing how these clubs work.

Are you guilty of book piracy? Would you join an online e-book club? Do you consider piracy a problem for writers? Do you have any solutions?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: Jimmy Schaeffler, book piracy, torrent files, booklending.com, lendle.me

A Novel Use of Lampposts

2011-03-07T05:00:00.001-05:00

Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does. - Steuart Henderson Britt

Marketing, as many of you know, is not my strength. I use some of the tried and true methods such as book signings, conferences, book fairs and so on. Therefore I’m always impressed when I read about an author who thinks outside the box.

For instance there was Tao Lin who offered a ten percent share of the royalties of his unfinished second novel for $2,000 to six investors. He thought it was an idea which would have people talking and that in itself is promotion. The six investors would also have incentives to talk up the book and promote sales. You can read more here. (By the way, Lin’s book Richard Yates was released in September 2010. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for his investors to make back their investment.)

Then there’s author R. N. Morris who began posting his crime novel, A Gentle Axe, on Twitter in 140 characters or less a few times a day. He hoped to keep old fans happy and pick up new readers while waiting for the release of his next book. You can read more here.

The latest innovative idea involves an anonymous author and his or her unpublished book, Holy Crap. This author is serializing his work by sticking pages on lampposts in the East Village in New York. Each page has directions to the next section of the book. According to the article in the DailyMail.co.uk, “No author has come forward to take credit for the story, but it is the talk of the area.” You can read the entire article as well as bits from the novel here.

Though this is an interesting concept, I don’t think it's something that would work in Fort Myers. Our downtown area is small and there 's probably some ordinance against posting anything on lampposts.

Would you be willing to read a novel posted in short bursts on lampposts? Would you be more likely to buy a book from one of these creative marketers simply for their originality? Have you heard about or tried other innovative marketing methods?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: Steuart Henderson Britt, Tao Lin, R. N. Morris, innovative marketing,

Marginalia

2011-02-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

…greasy looking smears/and next to them, written in soft pencil/by a beautiful girl, I could tell,/whom I would never meet/“Pardon the egg salad stains, but I’m in love.” - from the poem Marginalia by Billy Collins

I thought marginalia was a fairly new coined word. However unless you consider the early 1800s as recent, the word has been around for quite some time.

Marginalia, according to Wikipedia, "are notes, scribbles, and comments made by readers in the margin of a book. True marginalia is not to be confused with reader's signs, marks (e.g. stars, crosses, fists) or doodles in books.

"The first recorded use of the word marginalia is in 1819 in Blackwood's Magazine. From 1845 to 1849 Edgar Allan Poe titled some of his reflections and fragmentary material "Marginalia." Five volumes of Samuel T. Coleridge's marginalia have been published.

Mark Twain was also known for writing in the margins. His comments were often not flattering to the author, but there was no mistaking his point of view.

According to "Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins" in the New York Times, the popularity of e-books has some people worried about losing this art form.

“Like many readers, Twain was engaging in marginalia, writing comments alongside passages and sometimes giving an author a piece of his mind. It is a rich literary pastime, sometimes regarded as a tool of literary archaeology, but it has an uncertain fate in a digitalized world.

“’People will always find a way to annotate electronically,’ said G. Thomas Tanselle, a former vice president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and an adjunct professor of English at Columbia University. ‘But there is the question of how it is going to be preserved. And that is a problem now facing collections libraries.’”

“… David Spadafora, president of the Newberry, said marginalia enriched a book, as readers infer other meanings, and lends it historical context. “The digital revolution is a good thing for the physical object,” he said. As more people see historical artifacts in electronic form, “the more they’re going to want to encounter the real object.”

Though I would love to run across interesting marginalia, it’s a habit I’ve never practiced (except for textbooks). To me it’s akin to folding down a corner, tearing out a page, highlighting and other book scarring tactics. Thank goodness for sticky notes. It’s not my fault. Evidently I must have been influenced by librarians and teachers.

“’Paul F. Gehl, a curator at the Newberry, blamed generations of librarians and teachers for ‘inflicting us with the idea’ that writing in books makes them ‘spoiled or damaged.’”

Do you own books with interesting marginalia? Do you often write in margins of regular or e-books? If so, what sort of notes do you make?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: marginalia, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, writing in margins, e-reader, Billy Collins

A House Divided

2011-02-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

Also, differences of opinion can be creatively stimulating as well as frustrating. - Jim Coleman

When two thirds of my life has been spent with one person, I can be lulled into the idea that all the surprise factors are gone. But something always comes along to knock that notion right upside the head.

My husband and I have never agreed on everything, which is fine. A different point of view provides discussion opportunities. But I did think our opinion on eReaders meshed. That stance being—why would anyone want one when paper books work perfectly fine.

Therefore when this very same husband announced out of the blue one day that he was going out to buy a Kindle, I was stunned. After I picked myself up off the floor, which is a much slower process than it used to be, I responded with a, “You’re going to do what?”

The mission was confirmed.

He has always been a techie type person, but I couldn’t understand the sudden change in attitude. He explained there was a bird book out that got excellent reviews and identified birds by sight and sound. As he does a daily blog about the birds and other wildlife in the park across the street this did make sense to me, though I still felt betrayed.

Shortly after returning home with his purchase, he downloaded his first novel. Then he proceeded to show me all the wonderful things one could do with the reader. I acted unimpressed (what else could I do).

When I curl up with a book, I simply want to read. I don’t want the capability of looking up words (I can get up and get my dictionary if I can’t figure it out by usage). I have no desire to stop and read what others have said about certain passages, to shop for more books, to play games, to have wi-fi ability, and so on. In fact, not having access to all that is what makes books so beautiful to me.

Then he finishes the first book and says, “I think this is one you’d really like.”

Great. So now the real dilemma arises. Do I highjack his Kindle and read it or do I invest in the “real book?” I tend not to check out novels from libraries because I can be a slow reader at times. OK…and because I like owning books.

Many of the books I read are passed to me by my sister and daughter. They are both close to buying a Kindle or some other eReader. I’m going to be outnumbered in my own family. However, what bothers me most is that I’m going to miss all those free books.

One side note. When my husband went to purchase the bird book that started this whole revolution, he discovered from a review that the book doesn’t work with a Kindle. It only works with the Kindle App for iphones and such. I would snicker here, but that wouldn’t be very nice.

So tell me all you Kindle, iBook, Nook and other eReader owners out there, should I quit whining and jump on the bandwagon and adjust? Or is it OK to drag my feet and wait until eBooks are the only option? Are there any other readers out there resisting the call of eReaders? If so why?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: Jim Coleman, Kindle, ereader, Nook, ireader,

Speed-Dating and Blind Dates with Library Panache

2011-02-14T05:00:00.000-05:00

What is more important in a library than anything else - than everything else - is the fact that it exists. - Archibald MacLeish

I grew up in the era where libraries were massive buildings (of course, I was much smaller). The pitter patter of feet of all sizes echoed across marble floors. Solid wood shelves soared toward heaven. They were filled with what seemed to be an infinite number of books that gave off a musty smell. A card catalog lined the walls. Librarians were serious people with buns, dowdy dresses and no sense of humor. Simply clearing one’s throat could result in a stern look or a "shush" command.

Libraries, like everything else, have evolved through the years. The library I use now is bright and airy. It is geared toward welcoming children, not intimidating them. The nondescript flooring absorbs noise rather than resonating sounds. Metal bookshelves replaced wood. Computers replaced the card catalog. Librarians look like everyone else and usually have a smile on their faces. I haven’t heard anyone “shushed” in years.

I’m not saying all these changes are good. In fact, when my daughter was studying for the Florida Bar exam, she had to leave a library because of the high noise factor. Her home with a toddler running around provided a better study zone. But to stay relevant change must happen.

A couple of libraries have come up with creative ways to attract more visitors for Valentine’s Day. For instance, one San Francisco library offered the first literary speed-dating event.

"Twenty-five lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender participants, and 38 straight participants the night before, got a chance to find love before Valentine's Day during the library's first literary speed-dating events. The events drew so much interest that the library hopes to replicate them again soon.

"Announced at the start of the year, each free event was designed to accommodate 36 people. Enrollment for the straight night closed at the end of January with a waiting list of 50 people, said librarian Donya Drummond.

"'This is changing the image of the library, showing that it can be a social place and not just a studious place," she said.

"Sharing a book about cooking and a sci-fi novel, 41-year-old Iris Tashjian, who said she came to find "if not love, maybe a book club," walked away with the latter."

Since I've been happily married for over 40 years, speed-dating is not something I’m interested in, but I do like this blind date idea from a New Zealand library.

"Monday's event pairs borrowers with specially wrapped mystery books, chosen by library staff as being particularly deserving of a hook-up with a willing reader, Queenstown library manager Robyn Robertson said.

"'We are choosing books we personally enjoyed or feel passionate about. The books are all gift-wrapped, with only a barcode on the outside, so it really is a blind date with a book and there's no telling what you might get.

"'There's a cheeky mix of fiction and non-fiction, with a nod towards the day that inspired the whole initiative. There's bound to be some romance in there - it is Valentine's Day after all - but there's also a real mix of other genres.

"'Like any date, there's an element of risk. But who knows; it could spark a lifelong love affair with a new author," Mrs Robertson said."

You can read the entire articles here and here.

Do you visit your library as much as you used to? Does your library plan events that are beyond the usual bounds of their normal activities?

Before I go, I’d like to thank The Rainy Day Wanderer for the Stylish Blogger, Write Hard and Pass the Love 2011 Awards. I am a fairly new follower, but I have found her blog is fun to read, informative and full of interesting links. So if you haven’t stopped by yet, I’d recommend a visit. You can also find out more about each award.

I’m supposed to tell seven things about myself for the Stylish Blogger award. In March 2010, I had a hard time coming up with five. Nothing has changed since then, so I will stick to those five. If you missed it, you can read them here.

As far as passing them along, I’ll reprint something from the blog post mentioned above. "I'm supposed to pass these awards along. I‘m doing that by saying THANK YOU to all of you who take the time to visit and to those who go a step farther and leave a comment and/or become a follower. You make the work that goes into blogging worth it and keep me motivated to improve my writing. Please feel free to help yourself to one, two or all three of the awards. Don’t be shy. You deserve them, for without you, writing this blog would be a rather unrewarding exercise of futility."

Happy Valentine's Day and thanks for visiting. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: Archibald MacLeish, library, Valentine’s Day, literary speed-dating, blind dates, Rainy Day Wanderer,awards,

Late Bloomers

2011-02-07T05:00:00.001-05:00

It is never too late to be what you might have been.- George Eliot

Though I've enjoyed writing from my early school days, I started my authoring career rather late in life. Because of my great procrastination skills, I was able to come up with excuses until…well, I simply ran out of reasons not to write.

Going through the writing and publication process with my first novel, I feel older and wiser. I learned there is no such word as fast in the publishing world. It took a long time before I held a copy of The Ride in my hands. The process is no speedier with book number two, Reigning Cats and Dogs.

There are days I chastise myself for not diving into the writing world at a much younger age. However, after reading "Grandma next door" poet a Japan bestseller at 99” on Reuters.com, I’m feeling so much younger and more inspired. According to the article:

“Shibata began her literary journey at 92 when she could no longer continue with her decades-long hobby of classical Japanese dance due to back pain. Her son Kenichi, currently in his mid-60s, recommended she try poetry writing.”

At the age of 99, Toyo Shibata’s self-published poetry book is a bestseller. The collection of 42 poems is titled, Don’t be Too Frustrated.

Here are a few other snippets, but you can read the entire article here.

“Last week, helped by a late boost of publicity from a television documentary in December, the book hit 1.5 million copies in print, said publisher Asukashinsha. Printing 10,000 copies is often seen as a success for poetry books in Japan."

“…Written in what reviewers have termed a down-to-earth style with "sprightly" words, her poems have proven encouraging to thousands of readers.”

"Although 98, I still fall in love. I do have dreams; one like riding on a cloud," Shibata confesses in one poem with the title of "Secret."

"A flower bloomed from a century-old tree, and it's all because of your support," said Shibata, who is writing poems for a new collection to be published ahead of her 100th birthday."

Of course, she is not the only successful writer who started late in life. Harriet Doerr was 73 when her first novel, Stones for Ibarra, was released. The book won a National Book award. Mary Wesley, bestselling author of The Camomile Lawn and Jumping the Queue, began her writing career at age 71. Frank McCourt was 66 when Angel’s Ashes was published.

Did you follow your dreams and passions from an early age or are you a late bloomer, too?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: George Eliot, Toyo Shibata, late bloomers, Harriett Doerr, Mary Wesley, Frank McCourt,The Ride,Reigning Cats and Dogs,

Book Signing Tips

2011-01-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

You’ve got to tip an awful lot. It seems like we’re tipping everybody. – Eric Reed

When I stand near a table where my books are arranged in a nice stack, I hope to entice a buyer or two to take a chance on my book. No matter how well-prepared I am, the experience is challenging, intimidating, and exciting.

I try to make my table look neat and interesting. A large poster of the cover of The Ride draws attention to the area. I give away bookmarks and flyers. Sometimes, depending on where the signing is held, I might add a bowl of candy. But I have never thought to include a tip jar on my table.

I realize when someone is a best-selling author, book signings take on a whole different flavor. People know who you are, they recognize your work, and they line up to see you. Whatever the reason—to attract attention, boredom or research for a new book, did David Sedaris go over the top with his tip jar?

According to an article in Canada’s National Post:

“A couple of books ago, I put a tip jar on my signing table and I made over $4,000 on my tour,” Sedaris told the Post. “The problem was then I started hating people who didn’t tip me. I didn’t say anything to them, but I would just sit there thinking, ‘You cheap son of a bitch. I just signed four books and you can’t even give me a dollar?’ And why should they? But I just got so involved in it. I had to stop doing it.”

“I told people it was all for me to spend on candy. They were delighted because it’s funny to give money to someone who doesn’t need it. If there had been a beggar outside the bookstore, at the end of the evening, he might have had 75 cents where as at the end of my best evening in Dallas–[ I had] $530 in tips.”

In reading the article I can see the humor. Still I think I would have been bothered by the sight of the tip jar. It might concern me enough to step out of line or even change my mind about buying his book. After all, I know how to tip hairdressers, servers, taxi drivers, valets and so on. But how much do you tip an author?

Would you consider a tip jar? Have you ever tipped an author? Would you? What is the most interesting thing you’ve seen or done at a book signing to attract attention?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: David Sedaris, Book Signings, tip jars, Eric Reed, The Ride

Mentoring

2011-01-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could. – Unknown

January is National Mentoring Month. Though it is something I recently heard of, it’s been an event now for 10 years. Mentors play an important role in every career, but since I write about writing, I thought I’d mention some literary mentors I read about on flavorwire.com.

Sherwood Anderson encouraged William Faulkner to concentrate on novels rather than poetry and to write about the area where he was raised in Mississippi. Faulkner’s novel Soldier’s Pay was, “…eventually published primarily due to Anderson advocacy, and, as a wry thank you, Faulkner later dedicated his 1931 novel Sanctuary to his mentor for “services rendered.”

Willa Cather was mentored by Sarah Orne Jewett. She persuaded Cather to concentrate on fiction rather than journalism and urged her to not hide behind male narrators when portraying female romantic feelings. “Although Cather struggled to have the kind of transparency in her work that Jewett delighted in, she dedicated her breakthrough 1913 novel O! Pioneers to Jewett’s memory."

Henry James wrote to Edith Wharton, “I applaud, I mean I value, I egg you on in, your study of the American life that surrounds you. Use to the full your ironic and satiric gifts; they form a most valuable…beneficent engine.”

Joyce Carol Oates was Jonathan Safran Foer’s, author of Everything is Illuminated, instructor. He “…stated that Oates’ investment in his work has spurred him to want to become a writing instructor himself. ‘I went into her class with no ambition to become a writer, and I left it wanting to be a writer because of the things she showed me,’ he remarked. ‘Ever since, I always thought it would be nice to do that for someone else.’”

For more details and more literary mentors, you can read the entire article by Kirthana Ramisetti here.

My mentors over the years have been teachers, family, friends and members of the writing groups I belong to. Are you a mentor to another writer? Do you have a mentor who has encouraged you to complete a particular project or go down a certain path?

January 25 is Thank Your Mentor Day™. Mentees are encouraged to take the time to honor an important mentor in their life by posting an online tribute or sending a note. You can find out more here.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: mentor, National Mentoring Month, literary mentors, Faulkner, Cather, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Joyce Oates, Safran Foer

Banishing a Word of the Year

2011-01-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

I like good strong words that mean something. - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

I found it surprising that an innocuous word like epic made it to the banished and the word of the year lists.

According to Dictionary.com, epic means:
1. noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3. heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4. of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

Banishment seems like a tough sentence to give a poor little word, but Lake Superior State University (LSSU) has been coming up with this list since 1976. They receive over 1,000 nominations annually. Linda Lseszczuk’s has also written a blog about these banished words. Check it out to discover the other words that share this mark of distinction with epic.

So what has this four letter word done to be placed on the LSSU 2011 List of Banished Words? Tim Blaney suggests, "Over-use of the word 'epic' has reached epic proportions.”

Epic is also one of the 2010 People’s Choice Words of the Year. According to Dictionary.com,
“Was 2010 an “epic” year? Many of the people who nominated the word associated epic with the slang phrase “epic fail,” as in a major screw-up. Others nominated the word as a comment on how often they heard the word misused to describe events that clearly were not of an epic nature.”

To my way of thinking both sources are saying the same thing. It can’t be easy being a favorite and least favorite word. It must take a special word to earn these conflicting honors. I wonder if the word of the year award offsets the banishment?

The other People’s Choice Words were:
Discombobulate
Defenestration - I had to look this up - it means the act of throwing someone out a window. (Funny that I haven't had the need to use this word - ever.)

Brouhaha
Love

However, Dictionary.com selected the word “change” as their Word of the Year based on a surge of look-ups over the past year.

I don’t know what qualifies a word for this illustrious list, but the winners are words that have been around for some time. I expected a list of newer, more creative terms.

What word would you nominate for 2010 Word of the Year?

Tags: Louisa May Alcott, Banished Words, People’s Choice, epic, word of the year

Is Zebra Destined to Become Xebra?

2011-01-10T05:00:00.004-05:00

The last letter of our Roman alphabet is Z, a consonant that can seem racy and elusive or just plain disadvantaged. – David Sacks

I evidently missed this announcement when it was first released, but it caught my attention when DailyWritingTips.com did the Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2010.

The article, “The Letter “Z” Will Be Removed from the English Alphabet,” by Daniel Scocco caused my mouth to gape in disbelief. “Tell me it isn’t so,” I whispered to my computer.

I happen to like the letters in our alphabet – all 26 of them. And who could not possibly love the Z? Part of the Phoenician alphabet, it’s been around since about 1000 B.C.

The article included a quote from the press release from English Language Central Commission (ELCC) saying,

“After carefully considering and debating the matter for over two years, the ELCC came to the conclusion that the letter “Z” should be removed from the English alphabet. The main objective of this change is to simplify the phonetic aspect of the language, and to unify the American and British spellings.”

According to David Sacks author of Letter Perfect,

“The potential indignity of being the alphabet’s caboose is compounded by one real weakness: Z is, on the average, the least-used letter in printed English. Of the 26 letters, Z finishes last in this race, too, behind Q and X, For every 1,000 appearances by E (our most-used letter), Q appears about 50 times, X 44, and Z a measly 22.

“No wonder Z has been called superfluous, mere excess baggage. In Shakespeare’s King Lear (A.D. 1605), the irascible Earl of Kent insults the fatuous courtier Oswald, calling by the British name for Z: ‘Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!’”

Is this how the ELCC felt about the last letter in our alphabet? Is this why they came up with the ridiculous idea of deleting “Z” completely?

Before allowing my blood pressure to climb to a deadly high, I decided to look up this commission. That’s when I discovered that Daniel Scocco is a bit of a jokester.

“Whew!” I said to the empty room. "That was a close one."

I know better than to believe everything I read online. I mean, I wasn’t born yesterday (what an understatement) and I fell for it big time. After all, I read the article on a site I visit often and trust, the press release looked legit, and there were examples such as how zero would become xero and visualize would soon be visualise.

What didn’t register was the date of the original article – April 1. The article was an April fool’s gag. Good one, Daniel!

So rest easy - the letter “Z” has nothing to fear.

Have you ever fallen for an internet gag?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: David Sacks, King Lear, letter Z, English Language Central Commission, alphabet,

Blending Foreign Words with English

2011-01-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

Translation is at best an echo. – George Burrows

Kiortame pivdluaritlo (Eskimo). Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! (Welsh). Sawadee Pee Mai (Thai). Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho (Urdu). Kenourios Chronos (Greek). Or as we say in America, Happy New Year! Thanks to TheHolidaySpot.com, I discovered New Year wishes were easily translatable into many languages.

Even though I can only use the terms around my husband, I’ve added a few expressions to my vocabulary from the various international places I’ve lived. It’s fun and sometimes foreign words or phrases express a concept or feeling better than the English equivalent, if there is one.

Pronunciation could be a problem, but recently I ran across more foreign words that I’d like to add to my personal use list. I found them in an article titled “20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World” by Jason Wire. This article led me to “20 More Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World.” Since the author did come up with definitions, I am assuming by untranslatable he meant that there is no comparable English word.

I liked all he words he listed, but I only selected five of my favorites. I think these words would be good additions to our English language.

Mamihlapinatapei - Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.

Tartle -Scottish – The act of hesitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.

Wabi-Sabi -Japanese –a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.

Cafuné- Brazilian Portuguese – The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.

Jayus -Indonesian – a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Do you ever add foreign words to your conversations? Do you have a favorite foreign word or phrase?

I hope everyone’s New Year got off to a great start that only gets better with each passing day. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: George Burrows, New Year, untranslatable words, foreign words and phrases ,

Annoying Words and Phrases

2010-12-27T05:00:00.001-05:00

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut. - Sam Rayburn

With Christmas behind me, I can forget about shopping and focus on the upcoming New Year. I’d like to start 2011 off on the right foot. For instance, when speaking to people, I want to do my best to not irritate them with words or phrases they find annoying. Thanks to a recent Marist Poll of 1020 adults, I know the top five offenders.

“Whatever” heads the list as the most annoying word in the English language garnering 39% of the vote. “Like” was second with 28%. “You know what I mean” came in third with 15%. “To tell the truth” followed with 10%. “Actually” earned 5% of the vote.

According to their statistics, people over the age of 45 with no children in the household found “whatever” slightly more annoying than the group consisting of 18 to 29-year-olds. This second group found “like” more annoying. You can find the specifics of the demographic breakdown here.

Whatever is usually a conversation ender, so there’s less likelihood of it being overused during a single discussion than the other four words. However, none of annoying words bother me—maybe because I know I’ve used them all at one time or another.

If I had been asked, I would have nominated, “my bad.” Though I’ve learned that it’s a flippant apology, when I hear this phrase I want to ask, “My bad what?” My husband says this shows my age and my complaint would cause most people to LOL. He’s probably right.

Whatever.

What word or phrase would you select as the most annoying?

There are only a few days left to participate in Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway, so be sure to hurry over to enter if you’ve been procrastinating.

Wishing you all a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week

Tags: Sam Rayburn, annoying words, my bad, Darcia Helle, Indie Books Giveaway,

Unusual Gifts for Writers

2010-12-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

A book is a gift you can open again and again. – Garrison Keillor

Though I always have good intentions, I end up needing to make a couple of last minute purchases every year. As an author, I think I’m easy to please. I like paper, pens and books, books, books. Finding the right gift for some people, however, isn't so easy.

In my effort to come up with ideas, I stumbled across some unique gifts for the writers. Or perhaps you may want to buy something for yourself in order to rekindle your creative spirit.

Here’s a sampling:

At ShakespearesDen.com, you can find a Jane Austen action figure, complete with book (Pride & Prejudice, of course) and a writing desk with removable quill pen. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde action figures are also available.

If action figures aren’t your thing, they also offer literary figure plush toys and puppets. Though it seems rather irreverent to me, there ‘s even a Shakespeare rubber duck.

They offer more practical gifts, too. Such as coasters, wine charms, gargoyle bookworm bookends, and a silk tie covered in signatures of famous writers. Or there’s Who Dunn-it sticky notes that are shaped like a shoe print, thumbprint, and magnifying glass.

Theliterarygiftcompany.com offers a writer’s toolbox that contains a plot twist spinner and creative cards to help with writer’s block.

At fishseddy.com there are cute ceramic trays that look like lined writing tablets.

When inspiration strikes at 3 a.m., there’s a great throw-blanket with pictures and names of many well-known authors to keep your inspiration going and your body warm. You'll find this at The Professional Collection.

Do you have last minute shopping to do? What is your favorite writing gift that you bought for yourself or that someone has given you?

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas holiday.

Tags: Garrison Keillor, gifts for writers, Jane Austen, Shakespeare,

Methods Not to Use When Writing Detective Stories

2010-12-13T05:00:00.001-05:00

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. – Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

I haven’t written a detective story, but I think it would be fun to try my hand at it someday. After all, I think they’re fun to read or to watch on TV. Like working a crossword without peeking at the answers, trying to figure out the “whodunit” part before it’s revealed is the main attraction for me.

As with any genre, there are rules about what you can and cannot do. I recently ran across a list of twenty "laws" on writing a detective story by S.S. Van Dine (pseudonym for Willard Huntington Wright). He died in 1939 before DNA and other sophisticated methods were used for crime solving, but his is an interesting list. I thought I’d share a few of his guidelines with you.

The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.

There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar.

The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should never turn out to be the culprit. This is bald trickery, on a par with offering some one a bright penny for a five-dollar gold piece. It's false pretenses.

There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader's trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded.

A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person — one that wouldn't ordinarily come under suspicion.

My favorite, though, is his last credo listing “…a few of the devices which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of.” According to Mr. Van Dine, “To use them is a confession of the author's ineptitude and lack of originality.”

The devices are: (a) Determining the identity of the culprit by comparing the butt of a cigarette left at the scene of the crime with the brand smoked by a suspect. (b) The bogus spiritualistic se'ance to frighten the culprit into giving himself away. (c) Forged fingerprints. (d) The dummy-figure alibi. (e) The dog that does not bark and thereby reveals the fact that the intruder is familiar. (f) The final pinning of the crime on a twin, or a relative who looks exactly like the suspected, but innocent, person. (g) The hypodermic syringe and the knockout drops. (h) The commission of the murder in a locked room after the police have actually broken in. (i) The word association test for guilt. (j) The cipher, or code letter, which is eventually unraveled by the sleuth.

If you write detective stories, do you follow Van Dine’s credos? Do you have your own set of rules? When reading a detective story, what sort of device irritates you?

For Van Dine's entire list, visit Gaslight.

If you haven’t already, remember to stop by to enter in Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway for your chance to win one of hundreds of print and eBooks. Entry is easy.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week.

Tags: Arthur Conan Doyle, S. S. Van Dine, Willard Huntington Wright , writing detective stories, Indie Books Giveaway,

Become a fictional character

2010-12-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

A writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature. - Ernest Hemingway

Author Jasper Fforde’s characters have the enviable ability to literally jump in and out of books. For instance, in the first book of the series, The Eyre Affair, when the villain Acheron Hades kidnaps Jane, it’s up to the protagonist, Tuesday Next, a special ops in the Literary Division, to save the title character and the book. In the second book, Lost in a Good Book, Tuesday Next hops in and out of The Trial (Kafka), Great Expectations (Dickens), Alice in Wonderland (Carroll), and The Raven (Poe).

What fun it would be if we were able to meet the characters of our favorite books in this manner.

Though it’s not possible to leap into books except in our imagination, there is now a way to become a character in a book by a prominent author. Through December 20th, authors including Thomas Perry, Jane Smiley, Stuart Woods, and Dave Eggers are featured on a charity auction on eBay to raise money for the First Amendment Project. Click here to see the entire list of writers involved.

The authors are auctioning off characters in future books. According to the site, “Your name can be an FBI agent or a stripper with a heart of gold in the next entry in Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series; a villain or a victim in Thomas Perry’s next entry in the Jane Whitefield series, a wounded World War I soldier or drunken Bohemian in Andrew Sean Greer’s next novel, as a character in a new musical by Janet Burroway, or a character in a cartoon series by Ben Katchor, Chris Ware or T Campbell…”

The last time I checked, the highest bid was $500.00 for the stripper character in Brockmann’s series.

My characters tend to take control at some point in the writing process. I assume this happens to other writers. If the characters suddenly decide not be killed off or go down the path the author intended, it’s possible (though not probable) the winners might find themselves as the protagonist/antagonist in a popular new series.

Would you bid to have your name become a character in a book? What sort of character would you like to be? If you could pop into a book to mingle with the characters, which book would you choose?

Just a reminder about the opportunity to win books (no bidding required) at Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway. I’m excited to be among the forty-seven authors who are offering hundreds of free print and eBooks. Click here to see the list of participating authors and books. Entry is simple. Click here for the form.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week.

Tags: Hemingway, Fforde, The First Amendment Project, eBay auction, Darcia Helle, Indie Books Giveaway,

Slang

2010-11-29T05:00:00.001-05:00

Slang is a poor man’s poetry. - John Moore

Thanks to my sister I have to admit I started my wish list for Santa already. She emailed me an article from the Wall Street Journal about The First English Dictionary of Slang, 1699, and now I feel I must own the actual book.

I’m aware that each generation develops their own slang. I wrote a blog about modern slang phrases added to the Urban Dictionary. I don’t write historical fiction. Working any of the words or phrases into a contemporary novel would be challenging. However, none of these logical things dampen my desire to add it to my collection of reference books.

Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew was uncovered and recently republished under the new name. Canting, by the way, was the language of thieves and ruffians. The book was to educate the upper London classes in case they found themselves in the ‘wrong’ parts of town. Or perhaps, so that those rich enough to have servants could understand them. The dictionary also includes military slang and colloquialisms.

A few of the words you’ll find are:

Anglers - Cheats, petty Thieves, who have a Stick with a hook at the end, with which they pluck things out of Windows, Grates, &c. also those that draw in People to be cheated.
Blind-man’s-holiday - when it is too dark to see to work.
Blobber-lippd - means having lips that are very thick, hanging down, or turning over
Cackling-farts - Eggs.
Chouter - to talk pertly, and sometimes angrily
Conveniency – wife; also a mistress
Fubbs –a fond word for children
Fuddle – an excellent tipple
Grumbletonians -Malecontents, out of Humour with the Government, for want of a Place, or having lost one.
Rum-bluffer – an excellent host
Rum-bung – a full purse

Another interesting and rather ironic tidbit I got from my internet research of the book is that there is no agreed etymology for the word “slang.” I think I’ll have to make this a topic for another blog.

Before closing, I’d like to thank Stephen Tremp of Breakthrough Blogs for the Supernova Award for simply hosting him during his virtual book tour which was a pleasure for me to do. If you missed his post on Promoting and Marketing, you can find it here.

For any booklovers on your Christmas list, I’d also like to mention that personalized signed copies of The Ride will be available this holiday season for only $20.00. Simply email me at jane@janesutton.com for details.

Are there any reference books you hope Santa brings you this year?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: John Moore, The First English Dictionary of Slang , canting, slang, Stephen Tremp, The Ride,

Bizarre Characters and General Hodgepodge

2010-11-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

I write about real people in disguise. If anything, my characters are toned down-the truth is much more bizarre. – Jackie Collins

I was in Las Vegas last week for our annual get-together with a wonderful group of friends. I didn’t take my computer, so I was completely unplugged from the internet. It wasn’t as hard to adjust to as I anticipated. In fact, to be honest, it was very liberating.

Now I'm home and the fantasy life of Vegas is fading as I switch gears into catch-up mode. When I have lots to do, I tend to go in circles and my thoughts are rather jumbled. The result is this rather eclectic mixture of topics for today’s post, so I'll dive in now.

As usual I didn’t walk away with any big money jackpots. My Vegas windfall is more in the form of character ideas. I can’t imagine there being any better people watching place in the world.

I’m not talking about performers or casino employees when I say some people are so off the charts in looks, actions and voice that I wondered how anyone could turn them into a believable character. Describing these colorful folks exactly as I saw them might have the reader shaking their head and saying, “No way. No one’s this outrageous.”

I find perfect characters boring—I can’t relate to them at all. Is it possible, though, to go too far in the other direction? I ’ve read that if you want a satirical tool your characters can be unrealistically eccentric which leads me to wonder exactly what is unrealistic?

I don’t have the answers to my own questions, so if anyone has any ideas on the topic I’d love to hear them. Tips on writing about unusual characters are also welcome. Who is your favorite quirkiest character in a novel?

On a completely different topic, I like to thank Rayna for featuring me on her blog, Coffee Rings Everywhere, last Wednesday. I’m flattered to be the subject of one of Rayna’s drabbles. A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words and Rayna has one to offer daily. A resident of Bombay, India, her drabbles are always interesting and educational, expertly showing the similarities and differences between our cultures and lives. I recommend stopping often.

Changing the subject again - be sure to mark your calendar for December 1 when the Indie Books Holiday Giveaway begins. Forty-seven authors are offering hundreds of free print and eBooks. All you have to do is enter and that's super easy.

Next I’d to credit Marvin Wilson with coining the term, “blogcation.” I admit to stealing, I mean borrowing, the word for my last post. I couldn’t remember where I first saw it, but it seems it originated on The Old Silly’s Free Spirit blog. This comes as no surprise as Marvin’s posts are always creative.

Finally, happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the U.S. I hope your day is filled with joy and laughter and lots of good food.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week (I'll do my best to stick to a single topic).

Tags: Jackie Collins, blogcation, Las Vegas, drabble, Marvin Wilson, Thanksgiving, Coffee Rings Everywhere, unusual characters,

Adopt a Word

2010-11-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done. - Andy Rooney

I’m embracing a term I learned by blog hopping—blogcation. I think most people use it when they are not going to post a blog or two. I’m using in the context that I won’t be visiting blogs. For the next week I’ll be completely offline.

Typing that previous sentence was enough to send chills down my spine, so I have to remind myself it’s for fun reasons. It’s been a while since I’ve been unplugged. It’ll take some adjustment on my part, but I think I’m up for it.

When I get back I’ll be frantically trying to catch up on all the excellent blogs I‘ve missed, so I may have to steal the idea from this cartoon.

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

The term blogcation has yet to hit the dictionary, but it seems to be making the rounds and isn’t in jeopardy of fading away anytime soon. However, many words are facing extinction. You can help save these words by adopting one or more. Be prepared to feel the tug on your heart strings as the words call out to you in their desire to be ‘saved.’ Go to Save the Words, find the word(s) you wish to save and make a pledge.

The pledge states, “I hereby promise to use this word, in conversation and correspondence, as frequently as possible to the very best of my ability.” The site also has suggestions for other ways to use the words, such as pet names, skywriting or during a scrabble game.

There are little known words such as:
Pamphagous – eating or consuming everything
Drollic – pertaining to puppet shows
Jussulent – full of broth or soup
Avunculize – to act as an uncle

Others are a bit more nostalgic. Ten-cent store is available. For the younger readers, these stores were the predecessors to today’s Dollar Stores. Microcopy is also offered. Again, for younger readers, these were copies produced by microfilming. What’s microfilming? You can find all you want to know and more on Wikipedia.

In my absence this week, I’m hoping many of these words find a happy home.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Andy Rooney, Inkygirl, Debbie Ohi, blogcation, adopt a word,

NaNo Gets Panned

2010-11-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

“I am not the first person to point out that "writing a lot of crap" doesn't sound like a particularly fruitful way to spend an entire month, even if it is November.” – Laura Miller

It’s NaNo time again. For you non-writers that stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. It’s been an event since 1999, but I’ve never participated. I think it is a lofty goal and I’d love to write a book in a month, but I have plenty of excuses—such as frenetic writing isn’t my style or it takes place in the busy month of November. However, it most likely boils down to fear of commitment. Or maybe it’s fear of failure.

It’s become a popular thing to do. According to the official NaNo site, the first year there were 21 participants with 6 winners (those who met the goal), in 2009 there were 167,150 participants with 32,178 winners.

My reasons for not participating are based on personal shortcomings and have nothing to do with the actual event. In fact, I respect those who sign up, whether they succeed or not. However, Laura Miller has a different opinion which she voiced in her article “Better yet, DON'T write that novel, Why National Novel Writing Month is a waste of time and energy,” on Salon.com.

Of a sign offering a refuge for NaNo writers in a bookstore, she says, “It was yet another depressing sign that the cultural spaces once dedicated to the selfless art of reading are being taken over by the narcissistic commerce of writing.”

As she is also a writer, I was surprised at her level of hostility toward the event and participants. She says:

“So I'm not worried about all the books that won't get written if a hundred thousand people with a nagging but unfulfilled ambition to Be a Writer lack the necessary motivation to get the job done. I see no reason to cheer them on. Writers are, in fact, hellishly persistent; they will go on writing despite overwhelming evidence of public indifference and (in many cases) of their own lack of ability or anything especially interesting to say. Writers have a reputation for being tormented by their lot, probably because they're always moaning so loudly about how hard it is, but it's the readers who are fragile, a truly endangered species. They don't make a big stink about how underappreciated they are; like Tinkerbell or any other disbelieved-in fairy, they just fade away.”

It seems she thinks these contestants will not edit their work and will force people to read their unrevised “crap.” While instances of this may occur, I think the majority of writers realize revision, revision, and more revision are the most important steps in the writing process.

I also gathered from her article that she thinks the majority of writers are not readers. I have no statistics to prove her wrong, but I believe authors who don’t read are a tiny minority.

While I agree with Laura that we should celebrate the reader, I do think writers deserve some credit, too. After all, what would readers read if there were no writers?

I admit I have read a few poorly written books, but that number is far outweighed by the good ones. Some are written by well-known authors and others by little-known (but no less talented) writers I had the luck to stumble across. Whether their manuscripts were developed in thirty days or thirty years doesn’t diminish their work. As Laura points out, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, started out as a NaNo challenge.

I say, go NaNoers! Who knows what masterpiece may be unleashed this year.

You can read Laura Miller’s article here.

What are your feelings toward NaNo? Do you participate? Do you feel it’s a waste of time? Have you published a book that was written as part of the NaNo challenge? Writers—are you also readers?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next week.

Tags: NaNo, Laura Miller, National Novel Writing Month, Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen,

Promotion and Marketing by Stephen Tremp

2010-11-06T05:00:00.001-04:00

“In order to promote yourself and your book, you need to develop an identity potential buyers can relate to and remember.” – Stephen Tremp

I’m pleased to host the author of Breakthrough, Stephen Tremp today. Stephen has a B.A. in information systems and an MBA degree in global management. He is currently completing his doctorate program in business administration. He spent over ten years in consumer finance for some of the largest companies in the industry, holding numerous management positions. After many years of writing short stories and poems, Stephen has taken the last two years to fulfill his lifelong passion: write and publish Breakthrough. Today he is here to give us some advice on promotion and marketing, a weak area for many of us introverted authors.

***
You are a writer. You know it. Others close to you recognize your talents and abilities and have been encouraging you for as long as you can remember. It’s an inherent gift, perhaps lying dormant for years, and you now realize its time to move forward with what you know you have to do. You either have a manuscript, are in the process of writing one, or you want to write. It could be fiction, non-fiction, or your personal memoirs that you want to share with the world and even help other people.

How do you do this? Let’s start with your blogging platform. What makes a good blog, increases traffic, and builds a community of followers? I think this is an area many writers fail in. They have not taken the time to formulate their branding and a series of catchy blurbs, slogans, and one-liners that people can remember.

First, in order to promote yourself and your book, you need to develop an identity potential buyers can relate to and remember:

Branding and Blogging,
Can you tie your blog and book into a one-liner? (Include your name and you have a trifecta). Your Blog Banner should tell a visitor who you are and a little of what the can expect. You can run a contest on your blog and give away a signed copy for the winner. This also engages visitors and helps make your book and brand more than a fleeting memory.

So here is my Blog Banner: Breakthrough Blogs: add murder, mayhem and a wormhole, and you've got BREAKTHROUGH. Welcome to chaos. Helen Ginger and Elizabeth S. Craig are examples of really good Blog Banners.

Also, do you have an image or a word that defines and communicates you, your blog, and your book to your audience? I use Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes, to help accomplish this for me.

Second: You can develop a handful of catchy blurbs, slogans, and one-liners:
30 second elevator interview describing your book or your blog in no more than three sentences (most people will not listen to anything longer)

Here are two of my one-liners:
“BREAKTHROUGH - An exciting new dimension in sci-fi suspense thrillers."
“Near-future Sci-Fi for Action Lovers”
You can place one-liners on stuff you give away like book marks, business cards, and email signature lines. Place a blurb on the back of your business card – leave them at a table when you leave restaurant. Give them to bank tellers. Ask the manager of your local bookstores if you can hand these out in their store. A blurb with a picture and your name and blog site is all you need.

Third: Can you explain your blog on Twitter in 140 characters or less? Here’s mine: Author of the Breakthrough trilogy - a near-future Sci-Fi action series weaving together theoretical physics and technology with greed, murder, and mayhem.

Do you have an image of your book (or something that relates to your blog) as your wall paper for Twitter? I do. All too often I visit authors and they have something silly as their wall paper. Um … Hello? Upload an image of your book! Then go make some Twitter friends.

Adding Tabs to Your Blog A blog is as important (if not more important) than a static website. Eventually, we may see blogs replacing websites, which is why blogging platforms are adding pages and other features to their blogs. Blogs are essentially becoming interactive websites.

Example: I’m developing a SCIENCE FOR KIDS tab that will debut Wednesday November 10th when I stop by Shannon O’Donell’s blog . This is a great way to promote outside of your niche and genre. I have interest in California, Montana, and Michigan and hope to hook up with schools across the country. This could open more doors for a children’s animated series I’m currently working on too that teaches kids about science in a fun way.

Please join me Monday as I visit Alex Cavanaugh’s blog and we talk about how to write a near-future sci-fi. Due to the proliferation of knowledge, this is an emerging genre that is very popular.
***

Thank you, Stephen. I hope to implement some of your ideas to improve my blog design and Twitter page.

Please feel free to leave your questions or comments for Stephen.

You can visit Stephen Tremp, author of the action thriller Breakthrough at Breakthrough Blogs.

How do you promote yourself and your book(s)? As a reader, what sort of promotion most encourages you to buy a particular book?

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope to see you again on Monday.

Tags: Stephen Tremp, Breakthrough, branding, blog banner, 30 second elevator interview, promoting and marketing,

National Authors’ Day and Other Important Announcements

2010-11-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. – William James

Whenever I begin to wonder why I blog, something will come along to remind me. I received one such reminder in September when I read an email from Chris Price regarding a post I’d written in 2009 about National Authors’ Day.

It seems that Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, the woman credited with the idea of setting aside a day to celebrate American authors, was her great grandmother. Though she was only five when Mrs. McPherson passed away, Chris described some of her memories. She recalled her great grandmother reading to all the children who would listen. Once, when she read so much she lost her voice, she asked the kids to tell her about the books she’d read to them over recent weeks. According to Chris, “To hear my Mother and Aunt tell the story, it was quite the interesting interpretation of stories read.”

The note went on to read, “Anyway, I just wanted to say Thank You for what you do and be assured that this year, November 1, 2010, I will be reading one of YOUR books.”

I can't think of anything that tops that kind of note.

I found additional information about Nellie McPherson on answers.com.

“The idea of setting aside a day to celebrate American authors came from Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, president of the Bement (Illinois) Women's Club in 1928. McPherson was a teacher and an avid reader throughout her life. During World War I, when she was recuperating in a hospital, she wrote a fan letter to fiction writer Irving Bacheller, telling him how much she had enjoyed his story, "Eben Holden's Last Day A'Fishin." Bacheller sent her an autographed copy of another story, and McPherson realized that she could never adequately thank him for his gift. Instead, she showed her appreciation by submitting an idea for a National Author's Day to the General Federation of Women's Clubs, which passed a resolution setting aside November 1 as a day to honor American writers. In 1949 the day was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Sue Cole, McPherson's granddaughter, was largely responsible for promoting the observation of National Author's Day after her grandmother's death in 1968. She has urged people to write a note to their favorite author on this day to "brighten up the sometimes lonely business of being a writer." Flying the American flag on November 1, according to Mrs. Cole, is another way of showing appreciation for the men and women who have created American literature.”

I’d like to say thank you, Nellie McPherson! My gratitude also goes to Sue Cole and Chris Price for following in Mrs. McPherson’s footsteps.

I checked local events and still found no mention of what I think should be a major holiday. Hallmark may have missed coming out with cards for this occasion, but that shouldn’t stop us from writing our favorite author or a newly emerging writer in hopes of brightening their day as much as the note from Chris brightened mine.

Are there any celebrations in your area? If you wrote to an author, who would it be?

Though I usually post only on Mondays, I’m making an exception this week. On Saturday (11/6), I’ll be hosting Stephen Tremp, author of Breakthough. I hope you’ll make plans to visit. In the meantime find out more about Stephen and his book by visiting his blog.

One more announcement before I go. Author Darcia Helle of A Word Please is organizing a huge giveaway event that will run through the month of December. It will be hosted on her website and blog. Participating authors will be cross promoting on their own blogs, as well as through various social networks. All indie authors (self-published and small press) are welcome to participate. You can offer as many (or as few) titles and copies as you'd like. Both print and e-books are welcome. She’ll be sending out press releases and doing tons of promotion. She already has about 300 books to give away! I’m looking forward to taking part in this big event. If you’d like to participate, be sure to send Darcia an email at darcia@quietfurybooks.com before Nov. 15.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: National Authors Day, Nellie McPherson, Stephen Tremp, William James, Darcia Helle,

Genre Cross-overs by Marvin Wilson

2010-10-25T05:00:00.000-04:00

But people, including literary professionals, tend to pigeon-hole, so ... where to publish? – Marvin Wilson

I am pleased to be able to participate in Marvin Wilson's Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010. Doesn’t the tour name alone make you want to give someone a hug? But what if a homeless, smelly, ugly, unkempt old man had a hug so powerful it could cure cancer? Cause a prostitute to stop hooking and seek true love? Shake the demons of addiction free from a junkie? Make a Christian want to hug and love a Muslim and vice versa? But rare is the beneficiary of his divine embrace – nobody wants to come near him out of fear. That's the premise of Marvin’s latest release, Beware of the Devil’s Hug. You can buy it now from Amazon in order to find the answer to those intriguing questions.

Marvin D. Wilson has a widely varied and rich life experience background - from Hippie Rock and Roll musician, to nightclub entertainer, to Zen Buddhist minister, to carpenter, to small business owner, to network marketer, to sales and sales training, to skilled trades instructor and adult education teacher, to public speaker and motivational coach, to now in his chosen “golden years” career, a writer and multi-published author with the self-proclaimed, “audacity to write novels”.

Today he’s talking about genre-choice dilemmas, so take it away Marvin.
***
Jane, thank you so much for hosting a stop on the Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010 today. You asked for a guest post from me, on any topic of my choice. I thought today I’d expound a bit on the nature of my novels as it relates to genres.

As anyone who has read my fictional works knows, I write primarily in the spiritual/inspirational genre, but my books ‘cross over’ a lot into more secular genres as well. Owen Fiddler, for instance, has romances in it, complete with a few sex scenes, and the Christian theological aspects of that book are delivered in a rather humorous, sometimes even shocking and ribald way. Beware the Devil’s Hug takes the cross-over thing even further, with elements of suspense, mystery, intrigue, romance and even some erotica, violence, betrayal and betrothal.

Why all the cross-over? I like to appeal to a wide audience, and while my books are intended to deliver messages of love, unity, oneness—the all-encompassing, nonjudgmental, unconditional Love of Christ is my quintessential impetus for writing—and all things spiritual, I do not choose to ‘preach to the choir’. In fact, I don’t ‘preach’ at all. I want people to be entertained with an excellent page-turner of a story and let the messages seep into their deeper psyche—for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.

So this does give rise to some genre-choice dilemmas, as far as marketing and finding a publisher or agent goes. I used to submit my manuscripts to Christian book publishers, but always they rejected them, feeling the books were too graphic and worldly to publish. Conversely, the secular pubs would eschew them for being too ‘religious’—even though I am not a religious person, nor are my books ‘religious’, at all. I am a non-religious, dogma-free, Maverick spiritualist Christian, and that is the sort of tenor of the spiritual messages that come through in my novels. But people, including literary professionals, tend to pigeon-hole, so ... where to publish?

My first book, I Romanced the Stone (Memoirs of a Recovering Hippie), I had to go to a vanity press, through a very good and high quality small publisher, Global Authors Publications, who liked my story enough to publish it. And that book, by the way, still sells quite well, even though I’ve stopped actively promoting it for some time—other than at personal speaking engagements where I am talking about the perils of addiction and the route to not only recovery but absolute cure and freedom from addictions.

Then with my first novel, Owen Fiddler, I came across Cambridge Books, who considered the work highly enough to offer me my first contract. I got a tiny advance, which to me felt like a psychically valued million bucks! And with my last two releases, Between the Storm and the Rainbow, and now Beware the Devil’s Hug, I had the good fortune to have connected with All Things That Matter Press, with which I am on staff as an editor. ATTMP actively seeks out and publishes new and unique authors who deliver ‘message’ books, but in a non-preachy, well written, fictional format. It’s a great fit for me and my writing style. And while ATTMP is still a small pub house, they are growing fast and garnering an impressive lot of talented writers-on-the-rise, with an equally impressive inventory of high quality books offered and many more on the way. If anyone reading this is an aspiring author—who writes about any of the many ‘all things that matter’—seeking a pub house, and has gifted talent and is willing to go the extra mile for self-promotion and marketing, I’d advise him or her to submit their work to ATTMP.

So in closing, and back to the primary topic and the book being promoted here on the Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010, Beware the Devil’s Hug is, true to The Old Silly’s style, definitely a cross-over novel. It is a book that can be read on the surface for pure entertainment, and/or read deeper into, and the reader will derive inspiration and spiritual messages from it. Either way, and preferably both ways, it’s a work meant for all to read. Probably best for high school age and up; it is definitely an ‘adult’ book, so don’t buy and give it to youngsters still with virgin ears, but anyone who appreciates real world, tell-it-like-it-is, no punches pulled, hard-hitting action novels with a couple darn good messages thrown in to boot, will enjoy “Hugs”.
***
Thanks, Marvin. I think many new writers worry when their work doesn’t seem to fit into one particular genre. Hopefully this informative post will let them know that there is room in the publishing world for cross-over genres. Please feel free to leave questions or comments for Marvin.

The fun of the Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010 continues tomorrow (10/26) on Mason Canyon’s Thoughts in Progress.

Also be sure to stop by The Old Silly’s Free Spirit Blog to find out more about Marvin, his books, the tour and to enter his contest for lots of prizes and giveaways.

Additional Links:
Beware the Devil’s Hug
Owen Fiddler
Between the Storm and the Rainbow
I Romanced the Stone (Memoirs of a Recovering Hippie)
All Things That Matter Press

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Marvin Wilson, cross-over genres, Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour, Beware of the Devil’s Hug, All Things That Matter Press, genres

Reclusive Authors

2010-10-18T05:00:00.001-04:00

A hermit is simply a person to whom civilization has failed to adjust itself. – Will Cuppy

There’s a certain mystique attached to the idea of recluse writers. I can easily visualize the passionate author who lets nothing interfere with his work—living each moment only to find the perfect word, phrase or sentence. In many ways it sounds like an ideal life.

I like solitude. There are times when I think I could easily be a recluse—simply reading and writing as the world spins around me. Then I realize how much I enjoy my family and friends, going out to lunch and dinner, shopping and traveling and know I couldn’t be a hermit for long.

An article on Flavorwire.com, “In Defense of Privacy: The 20th Century’s Most Reclusive Authors,” went a step further to convince me that reclusiveness wasn’t the lifestyle for me, but it did contain a lot of juicy tidbits. For instance Marcel Proust soundproofed his studio with cork walls and installed layers of heavy curtains to keep the light out.

“He looked like a man who no longer lives outdoors or by day, a hermit who hasn’t emerged from his oak tree for a long time.

Before he died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess in 1922, there was a three year period where Proust rarely (if ever) left his apartment. Dramatic, for sure, but he’s got nothing on Ms. Emily Dickinson, who didn’t leave her family compound for 20 years.”

Most authors would be ecstatic to have their book catapult into instant commercial success like Catcher in the Rye. However J. D. Salinger requested, “…his photo be removed from the dust jacket of future editions and his agent burn any fan mail.”

According to Salinger, “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It’s peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure… I pay for this kind of attitude. I’m known as a strange, aloof kind of man.”

Other authors in the article are Denis Johnson, Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy and Harper Lee. McCarthy was on Oprah and Pynchon appeared as himself (albeit he had a paper sack on his head) on the Simpsons so I’m not sure they really qualify as true recluses.

Onlineuniversity.com also compiled a list of reclusive authors/artists. The list had many of the same authors , but also included Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson.

“Following his 1995 retirement, Watterson has spent most of his time painting and drawing in the company of his father and turning down any and all autographs, public appearances, and appeals to license his iconic characters.”

Because she wasn’t part of the 20th century, Emily Dickinson only received a slight mention in the first article. She wrote over 18000 pieces, but only published a small number of them.

“Her exile seemed to come more from a simple desire to stay at home and keep with her beloved hobbies and comfortable routine rather than the expected misanthropy, mental illness, desire for privacy, or disillusionment with fame and the media. On her rare excursions out, Dickinson would generally clad herself in the white dress that would eventually become her trademark.”

The biggest recluse I found, was Portuguese poet/author Fernando Pessoa. According to npr.org, “Pessoa, the man, was a bookkeeper. A loner. He had no friends, no loves, no family. He lived most of his life in a single room in Lisbon; his literary alter egos, and their writings, his only companions. He died in obscurity, a recluse, in 1935.

"The poets themselves may have been Pessoa's best creation, but his greatest literary achievement is The Book of Disquiet. It is a "factless" autobiography, filled with observations, aphorisms, ruminations, haphazard musings, dreams, moods and the keenest revelation of an artist's soul. What makes this book — this fictional diary — transcendent is that it deals with the eternal quests: the meaning of life, of death; the existence of God, good and evil; the questions of love, reality, consciousness; and the disquiet of the soul. It quenches the thirsty mind and floods the arid heart.”

I’m wondering, if in this age of multimedia marketing with numerous social sites like FaceBook and Twitter, is it even possible to become a recluse writer? Are you hermit material? Do you know of other writer recluses?

Tags: Will Cuppy, reclusive authors, hermits, Proust, Emily Dickinson, Bill Watterson, Pessoa, Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Salinger,

Do We Really Need Long Words?

2010-10-11T05:00:00.002-04:00

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words when short are best of all. - Winston Churchill

Many years ago (the exact number is not important) when I was in school, I used to be a good speller. With the advent of the computer, my spelling skills have become pathetic. There are times I mangle a word so severely that spell checker is even at a loss for suggestions as to what I might be trying to say.

The more letters a word has, the more opportunity I have to misspell or mispronounce it, so I tend to use shorter words. However, words with many letters still fascinate me, so when I saw the article, “The 11 Longest Words in the English Language” in the Huffington Post, it grabbed my attention.

The longest word is 189,819 letters. It’s the chemical name of titin, the largest known protein. I’m not going to print it. With all those letters, I’m sure I’d make a typo or two (not that anyone would notice) and it isn’t a word I can imagine anyone dropping during a casual conversation. I do wonder, however, if there are any sadistic teachers who put this word on an exam and mark off for spelling.

Here are a few of my favorites from the article that roll off the tongue

Honorificabilitudinitatibus n. (27 letters) - the state of being able to achieve honors. The longest word Shakespeare ever used and the longest word in the English language with alternating consonants and vowels.

Floccinaucinihilipilification n. (29 letters) - the estimation of something as valueless.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian adj. (30 letters) of or pertaining to extremely long words.

Asseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary adj. (51 letters) - used to describe the structure of the entire human body. (Note: The definition has fewer letters than the word, so why use the word?)

Aequeosalinocalcalinosetaceoaluminosocupreovitriolic adj. (52 letters) - used to describe the spa waters at Bath, England. (Note: I don’t know if this is a good description or bad, but I think I’d keep out of the water.)

Speaking of words, Hart Johnson of Confessions of a Watery Tart, awarded me with the Literacy Builder Award. Though I feel undeserving of this award, I’m truly flattered. If you haven’t visited Hart, you don’t know the fun you’re missing. She has a love of words and it shows in her blogs.

I’m expected to pass this award along, but I notice it’s already displayed by the blogs I visit (because I visit such high quality bloggers). The other thing I’m supposed to do is list five favorite words. I jotted down the five that jumped into my mind first, although there are many more I could add.

Grandma (when voiced by my grandson)
Superfluous
Pique
Serendipity
Scrumptious

What are your favorite words? What do you think of long words?

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Winston Churchill, long words, longest words, Hart Johnson,

How a Book Marketing Coach Can Help Writers by Cherish D’Angelo

2010-10-04T05:00:00.001-04:00

With confidence, you can do anything. – Cherish D’Angelo (a.k.a. Cheryl Kaye Tardif)

Like many authors, marketing isn’t my strongest asset and it doesn’t appear on my things-I-like-to-do list. Therefore, when I heard the term, "marketing coach," I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what such a person could do for me. Fortunately my guest today, Cherish D’Angelo (a.k.a. Cheryl Kaye Tardif), has stepped in to answer that burning question. Without further ado, I’ll turn you over to Cherish.

Thank you so much, Jane, for having me as a guest on your blog during my Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour, which launches my debut romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady. As Cherish D'Angelo, I write steamy romances. As Cheryl Kaye Tardif, I write sizzling suspense and YA, and I'm a book marketing coach. Today, I'd like to share how a marketing coach can help writers.

Whether you're a published author or unpublished, it's important to establish your brand as soon as possible. Many writers wait far too long to get a decent website and blog built. The sooner you start, the more your name will be everywhere online when you really need it to be, which is at book launch time. The more your name is out there in cyberspace, the more people will come across it. The more they come across it, the more they remember you. Makes sense, right? Then why doesn't every writer have a proper website with a custom domain and a professional look?

As a book marketing coach, it's my job to first of all assess my clients' websites and blogs. I need to learn about you and see how others will perceive you. Outside of the works you create, your website and blog are your two best assets in this business. After all, this is where readers will find out about you. Unfortunately, you could be sabotaging your efforts with a few missteps in your site and blog design. That's where I come in.

I analyze the structure of your website and make recommendations on design elements and navigation, two very important elements to having a well-developed website. I often help authors select and register their domain names and find affordable, easy hosting and web creation. Next, I do an internet identity analysis. This tells me how easy it is to find you online, which should be one click away on any search bar. If you aren't at least 5 pages deep on a search engine, we've got work to do.

Along with the basics as described above, I teach my clients how to make the best use of their time on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and more. I show you how to effectively market your books to their "friends", without being a pushy salesperson. Other services I provide may include instruction on agent query writing and submission techniques and tips, self-publishing or traditional publishing, getting reviews and review blurbs, how to hold a successful event like a book signing or reading, how to organize a virtual book/blog tour, how to get your books on bookstore shelves, how to get major sponsors and more.

Working with other writers is very rewarding for me. I made a point early on in my career to give back when I could. For a few years, I coached other authors for free, but now that my time is more limited, and since I've spent time and money learning these techniques, I charge a fee. After all, my time is valuable. Time is money, especially to a writer who could be working on a future bestseller. As a coach, my ultimate goal is to give my clients more confidence, so they can work efficiently and see greater success. With confidence, you can do anything.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Cherish D'Angelo, aka "Shameless Promoter"

Lancelot's Lady ~ A Bahamas holiday from dying billionaire JT Lance, a man with a dark secret, leads palliative nurse Rhianna McLeod to Jonathan, a man with his own troubled past, and Rhianna finds herself drawn to the handsome recluse, while unbeknownst to her, someone with a horrific plan is hunting her down.

Lancelot's Lady is available in ebook edition at KoboBooks, Amazon's Kindle Store, Smashwords and other ebook retailers. Help me celebrate by picking up a copy today and "Cherish the romance..."

You can learn more about Lancelot's Lady and Cherish D'Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif) at http://www.cherishdangelo.com and http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com. Follow Cherish from September 27 to October 10 on her Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour and win prizes.

Authors: What is your number one weakness in marketing your books? Readers: What kind of marketing grabs your attention? How do you discover new authors?

Leave a comment here, with email address, to be entered into the prize draws. You're guaranteed to receive at least 1 free ebook just for doing so. Plus you'll be entered to win a Kobo ereader. Winners will be announced after October 10th.

Thank you, Cherish. A book marketing coach sounds like the perfect solution for someone like me. I am certainly going to consider taking this step before my next book is released. Good luck with your tour.

And thank all of you for dropping by today. Be sure to leave your comment or question for Cherish (Cheryl) along with your email address in order to be entered in the contest. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Cherish D’Angelo, Cheryl Tardif, book marketing coach, virtual book tour,

Banned Books

2010-09-27T05:00:00.001-04:00

The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame. - Oscar Wilde

Banned Books Week is September 25 through October 2. It seems to me that the topic of censorship is what one would read in the news about countries like China, Iran or South Korea. It’s shocking to me that fellow Americans in the year 2010 are still trying to ban books.

According to the ACLU site:

“Banned Books Week is an annual event started by the American Library Association (ALA) in 1982. This week-long event, held during the last week of September, raises awareness of freedom of speech through celebrating challenged books and the value of free expression.

A book is “challenged” when a person or group objects to the materials and attempts to remove or restrict their accessibility. A book is “banned” when this removal is successful.

Thanks to the work of libraries and the ACLU, most book challenges are now unsuccessful.”

“Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same" is the theme this year. I think it’s a good one. Nothing irritates me more than for someone to read a book and then tell me I shouldn’t have the same privilege because they found something offensive in the material. It’s even more insulting when people object simply by what they hear about a book without bothering to read it. In my opinion, if something in a book offends someone, he/she has every right to put the book down, but not the right to tell me that I can’t pick it up.

Some people believe they are protecting our children by banning books with controversial topics, foul language and sexual topics. However, I don’t think these people give kids enough credit for being able to think logically and for their ability to identify right from wrong. Age appropriate discussions about the book or a particular scene seem much better than hoping to keep a child in the dark all her life by pretending certain situations don’t exist.

According to a csmonitor.com article, “Banned Books Week 2010: Which books drew the most fire last year?” more than half of banned book challenges in 2009 came from Texas and Pennsylvania. The article goes on to say:

“In the two decades the ALA has been keeping track, parents have been responsible for 48 percent of all challenges. The most common reason: sexual explicitness (33 percent), followed by offensive language (26 percent), and material “unsuited to age group” (21 percent).

While efforts to ban books are decreasing overall – between 2004 and 2009 the ALA received 21 percent fewer reports than a decade before – Banned Books Week highlights that controversies over public access to books and First Amendment rights are alive and well throughout the United States.”

The banned book list for 2010 won’t be complied until next year. The usual books like Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird are once again on the challenged list. Here are a few others that might surprise you.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
The Tortilla Curtain - T. Coraghessan Boyle
Running with Scissors – Augustan Burroughs
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America – Barbara Ehrenreich
And Tango Makes Three – Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (This is a picture book based on a true story about a pair of male penguins in a zoo who nurture an egg together).

For more on this topic you might want to visit:
10 Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week
The American Library Association, Celebrating the Freedom to Read

How do you plan to celebrate Banned Books Week? If you plan on reading a banned book, which one will you choose?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Oscar Wilde, banned books, banned books week, challenged books,

Unusual Holiday Book Marketing Ideas by J. Aday Kennedy

2010-09-24T05:00:00.004-04:00

What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest? -Aeschylus

I am happy to host J. Aday Kennedy today. She’s here with some great book marketing ideas, but first I’d like to tell you a little more about her.

J. Aday Kennedy, the differently-abled writer, is a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic making her dreams come true a story at a time. As a speaker, Aday entertains, instructs, motivates and inspires audiences of all ages. By focusing on what she CAN do instead of CAN’T, she sets and pursues her goals diligently. She surrounds herself with family, friends and positivity in Texas, the friendly state. Her picture books are humorous, reluctant reader friendly and character building. To learn more about her and her writing, visit her website at http://www.jadaykennedy.com/.

Holiday Book Marketing

Have you noticed there are times of the year you have difficulty selling books? A calendar can help solve that problem. How? There is a holiday for the strangest celebrations. These holidays can be used to market your book.

The best time to utilize the calendar is before you have written a single word. Take your character and start giving it likes, and dislikes based on holiday celebrations. Here are a few examples.

In January it is difficult to promote and sell books, because Christmas put a strain on your prospect’s finances. Rubber Duckie Day is Jan 13, so give your character a rubber duck collection. That is an odd detail in a character’s makeup, especially an adult, but it gives them an interesting personality quirk and you have reason to promote your book in January.

Not only do you have reason to promote, but you have opened the door to an unusual setting for a book signing; a store that specializes in bath products or a large store with a section devoted to bathrooms. One of the benefits of selling books at a “non-bookstore” is that your book is not competing with other books. Your book has no direct competition.

Another tie to your character’s collection is that January is Bath Safety month and Bubble Bath Day is the 8th. Create a drawing/contest to collect names for a prospect mailing list. Fill a bag or basket with bath items (The dollar store can provide some inexpensive items.) The larger the prize, the longer you can draw out the contest. Contact radio stations, newspapers, and other media. The radio station will publicize the contest on air and provide you with free advertising for the length of your contest.

Does your main character design clothes for animals as a hobby or career? National Dress Up Your Pet Day is January 14. Schedule a book signing at a dog groomer, veterinarian’s office, pet store, animal shelter or pet supply store. Offer a discount to patrons that bring photos or take a photo at your signing with their dressed pet. For every certain number of animals that get adopted, offer a gift. (Have a sign up and draw names.)

***You can tie your book to holidays that do not seem to have a direct link. Find reasons to promote your book in every month.

February is Library Lovers Month. Offer to hold a book signing or reading session for free at a library. Provide a discount to every library card holder old or new. Donate a portion of each book sold to the library. You can make bookmarks encouraging children to read. Design a contest/scavenger hunt. All the answers can be found in the various resources the library offers.

*** When you offer a prize make sure it promotes your book, you or your services. Baseball caps, T shirts, pens, buttons, etc… You have created good will and a walking and talking advertisement.

March is National Middle School Month. How can you celebrate and promote your work? Schedule an author school visit at a middle school and create a time capsule for the class and make fun questionnaires for them to fill out. Then select the date with the teacher to open the capsule. (The last day of school [if done near the beginning of the year] date of middle school graduation, junior high graduation or high school graduation or a different date that looms in the future.) Donate a copy of your book to the classroom/school you visit. Go to Vista Print and make a promotional item (T shirt, coffee mug, baseball cap, sticky note pad) with a picture of the main character of your book with a slogan about middle school. You could have a contest for the entire middle school. The class with the best theme room wins a pizza party from your main character or a party with your main character’s favorite food.

At the party you can attend with chances for more prizes to be won. You’ve achieved a few things. Excitement about you and your book; incredible photo opportunity [all of those classrooms decorated with your book as the subject]; and a newsworthy event for the local media.

April is the month to celebrate April Fools Day. Visit a local joke shop. You can look online, as well. Collect a bunch of practical jokes and make a basket or joke bag. Run a trivia quiz contest. All of the answers can be found on your website or links to your online publications. Structure the questions and answers to promote you, your services or products. “The Joke Bag/Basket” is the prize.

No matter what time of year it is, there is a holiday to be celebrated. Put on your marketing hat. The more creative you are the more it will put an indelible mark in people’s minds. Each time you are mentioned in the news your reputation will grow and hearty anticipation for your next event will proliferate. Search for holidays on the web and plan a year of marketing your books and services.

Thank you for all the wonderful ideas Aday. My protagonist, Barbie Anderson, loves bubble baths, so I’m definitely marking January 8th on my calendar. I’d also like to mention that Chase’s Calendar of Events is a good source for finding unusual holidays that may not appear on the average calendar.

In Aday’s book, Klutzy Kantor, everyday Kantor Pegasus practices solving riddles. A tricky leprechaun attempts to outsmart him by giving him a next to impossible riddle to solve. To end his clumsy ways he must solve it. Children learn the benefit of practice and to focus on their strengths. Klutzy Kantor (ISBN-10: 978-1616330511 ISBN-13: 978-1616330514) is a 24 page picture book published in April 2010, by Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. You can buy the book from Amazon here.

Aday has also contributed five essays to four Chicken Soup for the Soul books: December 2007, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Nurses, "Optimistic Light;” March 2008, Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Tribute to Moms, "The Evolution;" March 2008, Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul: "The Man of My Dreams;" March 2008, Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul: "Some Children are Special;" and April 2010, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad, "A Real Dad."

Please feel free to leave comments and questions for Aday.

Tomorrow Gary Murning is featuring author, Katie Hines. I hope you have the opportunity to visit.

Thank you all for stopping by today. Have a wonderful weekend. I hope to see you on Monday.

Tags:
Aeschylus, book marketing, holiday book marketing ideas, Chase’s Calendar of Events, J. Aday Kennedy, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Klutzy Kantor,

The Importance of Punctuation

2010-09-20T05:00:00.002-04:00

No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place. – Isaac Babel

Both of the above cartoons are used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

September 24 is National Punctuation Day®. For those who didn’t know such a day existed, I suggest a visit to Jeff Rubin’s website. He has ideas on how to celebrate, gifts for punctuation enthusiasts, photos of signs with obvious errors, and much more.

I found this great example of why correct punctuation is so important in the name of a Facebook group called "'Let's eat Grandma!' or, 'Let's eat, Grandma!' Punctuation Saves Lives."

Another illustration of why we need such a day is a love letter that, with a few strategic changes to the punctuation, becomes a Dear John letter. You can read that letter here.

There are some wonderful photos on flickr that show punctuation marks used as art, as well as signs with punctuation goofs. I wanted to post a few of them, but the photos I clicked on required permission to use. If you’d like to see them, click here.

I’ll leave you with this:

Do punctuation errors make you laugh or do they drive you up the wall? Have you run across any memorable blunders?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by again on Friday (Sept. 24). I know it’s not my usual post day, but very special guest, J. Aday Kennedy, will be here talking about unique book marketing ideas. In the meantime, you can find out more about her by visiting her web page or blog.

Tags: Isaac, punctuation, National Punctuation Day, Inky Girl, J. Aday Kennedy,

Gender-Bias in the Literary World

2010-09-13T05:00:00.002-04:00

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender. - Annie Lennox

A few months ago I read an interesting blog about gender-biased reviews at Darcia Helle’s, A Word Please . Darci mentioned reading a Sisters in Crime newsletter which said that approximately 67% of reviews went to male authors while 33% went to female.

According to Darcia:

“Sisters in Crime monitors 42 publications. Of those, only 3 gave more reviews to female mystery authors. These were the San Francisco Bay Area’s Contra Costa Times, the Annapolis Capital, and Romantic Times. Of the remaining 39 that slant toward male writers, some of the statistics are astounding. For instance, 100% of the mystery novels reviewed by Detroit Free Press were written by men. They didn’t review one female mystery author all year! The percentage of male authors reviewed in other leading publications include: Ellery Queen at 76%, Entertainment Weekly at 72%, the New Yorker at 75%, and the Washington Post at 79%.

Looking at these statistics, a person would be forgiven for assuming that there are simply more male mystery authors to review. This, however, is untrue. The split is almost even.”

Two popular female authors, Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult, recently added more fuel to this debate according to an article in the Huffington Post, “When Is a Literary Feud NOT a Literary Feud?” by Lisa Solod Warren.

The article states:

“The two women say Franzen is getting too much play for his new novel Freedom (which, incidentally hasn't even hit bookstores yet) and that his subject matter is one that women like them write about all the time but for which they never receive the kind of press Franzen is getting (the cover of Time being the breaking point, perhaps). Picoult is quoted as saying that the New York Times favors " white male authors" and Weiner, in the Huffington Post, says that she thinks "it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book -- in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention."

I don’t agree with the author of the article when she goes on to say things like, “The truth is that authors like Picoult and Weiner can't hold a candle to Franzen.” Or “It seems more about professional jealousy than equal coverage or women's rights.” Or “One benefit of reviews in mainstream, influential publications like Time and the New York Times is to introduce readers to writers who may not be on the average reader's radar.”

I tend to agree more with an article by Tina Jordan on shelf-life.ew.com titled, “Stop calling it chick lit!” She writes:

“As far as the Times goes, Weiner and Picoult are correct: The newspaper absolutely does have a bias towards white male authors (if you doubt this, go do some counting yourself). Look and see how many men in the last year got both daily and Sunday reviews — and then compare how many women were accorded that honor. Check the number of mentions Gary Shteyngart has gotten in the last month, and then do the same for Mona Simpson, a novelist of equal literary acclaim. (Their most recent works came out at roughly the same time this summer.) Simpson did get a profile, it’s true. Of course, it ran in the Style section, not the Arts section.”

My favorite part of the article was:

“The chick lit issue is equally bothersome. It’s never failed to irritate me that the smart, funny, achingly real Good in Bed should be dismissed as “chick lit,” with all its dismissive, derogatory implications. This isn’t a novel about sex and shopping. Would we demean brash, action-packed adventure novels by calling them “dick lit”? No, we would not. (Although if the “chick lit” tag persists, maybe we should.)

My research team (better known as my sister) sent me the following email, “… after discussion last night I thought I'd count the reviews of male vs female authors this week in the Wall Street Journal. HA! Their current list of book reviews has 12 books by men and 5 by women (I didn't count the two books that were co-authored by a man and a woman, but then it would have been 14 to 7).”

I tried to find statistics on percentage of men to women writers in various genres, but came up empty handed. Regardless of the numbers, I think it’s clear there is a bias. However, I have no idea what can be done about it.

Do you think gender-bias reviews are a problem? Do you have any solutions?

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Annie Lennox, Darcia Helle, sisters in crime, gender bias, book reviews, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, Frantzen,Wall Street Journal,New York Time book review,

Labor Day Trivia

2010-09-06T05:00:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow. - Douglas Pagels

Happy Labor Day! In keeping with the holiday spirit, I thought I’d post some Labor Day Trivia which I picked up from the Department of Labor’s site for you to use to impress your family and friends during your activities today.

Labor Day, a creation of the labor movement, is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers and their contribution to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

I thought our country kept better records, but the most curious thing I discovered is that no one knows who to acknowledge for this end of the summer holiday. It seems we owe our gratitude to either a Mr. McGuire or a Mr. Maguire. Similar names, but two different people.

According to the site: “Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

"But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.”

The first observance was a parade in New York City on Tuesday, Sept, 5, 1882, in which 10,000 workers took an unpaid day off in order to participate.

Oregon was the first state to declare Labor Day a law in 1887.

In 1894, Congress passed a bill which was signed by President Grover Cleveland designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

Canada celebrates Labour Day on the same day.

Other large industrialized nations celebrate a similar concept, though sometimes the celebration is combined with May Day.

One last major tidbit—according to several sites I visited while researching the day—it’s no longer a faux pas to wear white after Labor Day.

To find out more details about the day, visit the Department of Labor . To see a photo of a circa 1900s Labor Day Parade in Buffalo New York, visit the Library of Congress. And for the latest statistics about our workers, visit the U.S. Census Bureau.

I hope everyone who has the day off today is able to enjoy the holiday with friends and family or in whatever version of sliding down the rainbow that makes your day a good one.

How will you be celebrating?

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Pagels, Labor Day Trivia, Labor movement, Peter McGuire, Matthew Maguire, Department of Labor,

Are Writers Shying Away From Sex Scenes?

2010-08-30T05:00:00.001-04:00

Don't concentrate simply on the mechanics or you'll have an awkward "tab A in slot B" scene that will make readers collapse with laughter. – C. Margery Kempe

I have recently discovered that the one award in writing I don’t mind not winning has been awarded once again. It’s Britain’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. I posted a blog on this last year, when the 2008 winner was Rachel Johnson for Shire Hell.

For those who don’t remember, the award (a plastic foot) was created in 1993 by literary critic, Rhoda Koenig and then editor of the Literary Review, Auberon Waugh, "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it."

The winner for 2009 was The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. According to the Literary Review, “The judges used the occasion to praise an ambitious and impressive novel. They said: ‘It is in part a work of genius.’ However, a mythologically inspired passage and lines such as "I came suddenly, a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg" clinched the award.” The author was not available for comment, but the article said, “We hope he takes it in good humour.”

To read the entire winning exert, click here. You can also read clips by the runners up who included Paul Theroux, Nick Cave, Philip Roth, Amos Oz, Anthony Quinn, John Banville, Richard Milward, Sanjida O'Connell and Simon Van Booy.

According to a separate article I read on guardian.com by Tim Adams, “Sex disappears from the British novel as authors run scared of ridicule,” this award may be scaring authors from writing steamy scenes. The article states that former poet laureate, Andrew Motion, after reading through 138 novels to come up with the shortlist for the Booker Prize concluded that, “… no one was writing much about sex anymore.” Motion said, “It's as if they were paranoid about being nominated for the Bad Sex Award…” He is also quoted as saying that "there were a lot of people writing about taking drugs, as if that was a substitute for sex."

It’s an interesting article about the obscenity trial for Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence and “lust” highlights in literature. Adams says, “In 1961, the year after Lady Chatterley's Lover was allowed to be published in the UK, the book outsold the Bible, with two million copies bought (200,000 on the first day).” He goes on to list books on “Literary Lust: 10 Milestones,” such as Fanny Hill by John Cleland, Ulysses by James Joyce and Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, which had a part in changing the history of acceptable sex in novels.

The articles left me wondering if authors are shying away from writing about sexual encounters because they’ve all been done before; they don’t have the shock value that they once did; they are too difficult to write; they’re worried about the Bad Sex in Fiction Award; society is reverting back to the puritanical values of our ancestors; drug scenes have become the new sex scene; or they aren’t backing away at all. What do you think?

If you have trouble writing sex scenes and want to be sure you don’t win the foot trophy, check out last year’s guest post by C. Margery Kempe for her tips on writing these difficult scenes.

Other helpful articles I found are:
20 Steps to Writing Great Love Scenes, by Karen Wiesner at writing-world.com
How to Write a Fictional Sex Scene, by Catherine Chant at eHow.com
How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program by Steve Almond on Nerve.com

Do you have trouble writing sex scenes? Have you read a scene you think might deserve the Bad Sex in Fiction Award? Do you think drug scenes are surpassing sex scenes in fiction?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: C. Margery Kemp, bad sex in fiction award, writing sex scenes, Jonathan Littell , Lady Chatterley’s Lover , D. H. Lawrence, Fanny Hill, John Cleland,Ulysses ,James Joyce, Philip Roth,

Writing a Book Review

2010-08-23T05:00:00.000-04:00

A good writer is not, per se, a good book critic. No more than a good drunk is automatically a good bartender. - Jim Bishop

I never thought about writing book reviews until I was the author of a book receiving reviews. I know how nice it is to have someone who liked the book take the time to post their thoughts. Therefore, I decided I wanted to do a better job of writing reviews of the books I’ve read and enjoyed; especially those by new authors.

Writing reviews, I quickly learned, is not as easy as it sounds.

I know what kind of reviews I like to read—short and to-the-point. An example of what I consider well-written book reviews can be found at Straight from Hel. Helen Ginger’s reviews leave me wanting to read the book even if it’s not in a genre I normally select (the disclaimers posted along with the reviews are also thoroughly entertaining). Click here and here to read samples of her recent reviews. Her blog involves many other book related topics, so if you haven’t visited, I recommend a stop.

I also know what type of reviews I don’t like to read—the tell-all style that reads more like a book report and often gives away important plot twists. I avoid these types of reviews (unless it’s something someone posted on The Ride, and then I read every word). I simply don’t want to know all there is to know about a book I haven’t read yet. And, if there is a spoiler alert, I cringe and close the page as quickly as possible.

In my quest to learn how to write good reviews, I ran across an article by Michelle Kerns at examiner.com, titled “The top 20 most annoying book reviewer clichés and how to use them all in one meaningless review.” Gripping, poignant and compelling are samples of the words on her list. According to Michelle:

“The purpose of reviewerspeak is to force every free-thinking book, movie, and art reviewer into the submissive parroting of only a handful of approved reviewer words to describe any item that may come their way. Call it laziness, call it the incessant demands of the ever-wakeful internet, call it fear of the wrath of Harold Bloom, but reviewers -- particularly book reviewers -- spew out these same, tired old clichés with the force and regularity of Linda Blair in a scene from The Exorcist.”

Then I read another of Michelle’s articles “Book Review Bingo: More book review cliché fun than you can shake a riveting, unputdownable stick at,” that takes these clichés a step further. She added a few words, such as "unputdownable," and developed a Bingo game. She says:

“I hardly think there is anything that drives a stake into the heart of a book review faster and with more determined force than a cliché. Book reviews that use clichés mean nothing, say nothing, and tell the reader nothing. They're like eating a cream puff when what you really want is prime rib -- they're unsatisfying and, ultimately, useless.”

After my “research” this week, I am confident about words I want to avoid and the kind of review I don’t want to write, but I am nowhere near being able to sit down and write a review with ease.

Now I plan to spend some time visiting the 100 Best Blogs for Book Reviews at onlinecollege.org. This site looks interesting as it divides the review blogs by genre, so I can concentrate on the types of books I read the most.

It’s important for me to find my voice in writing book reviews soon, because my stack of read-but-need-to-write-a-review books is about to become taller than my to-read stack.

Do you write reviews? If so, do you review all the books you read or only the ones you really like? How do you feel about tell-all reviews? Do you have any hints on how to write the perfect book review?

Before I forget, I want to thank Virginia Grenier at The Writing Mama for bestowing me with the Versatile Blogger Award. It’s quite an honor coming from a truly resourceful blogger, who manages to raise three kids while writing, running a publishing company, editing…oh and blogging. If you’re not familiar with her blog, you might want to stop by to see what you’re missing.

Thanks for stopping here today. I hope to see you again, next Monday.

Tags: Jim Bishop, book reviews, book reviewers, writing book reviews, best blogs for book reviews, Helen Ginger , The Ride,

The Problem of What to Read Next

2010-08-16T05:00:00.003-04:00

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. -P.J. O'Rourke

Finishing a good book is a bittersweet moment for me. I don’t like saying goodbye to characters I’ve grown to love. But that’s only part of the problem. Ending one book means it’s time to select what I’m going to read next. With so many books available and so many ways to decide, making that choice is no easy task.

Some readers might visit the new books section at their library; ask for recommendations from their local book store; follow their book club list; or, opt for something a friend or family member mentioned in passing.

Others might go online for advice. Recently lifehacker.com ran an article, “The Five Best Book Recommendation Services.” They included sites I would expect to find, like Shelfari, Library Thing, Amazon, and Goodreads, plus one I wasn’t familiar with called GetGlue. The article mentions the pluses each site has to offer.

There are some people who find an author they like and read without a pause everything by that one writer. Once the author’s books are devoured, the fan can select from a list of books that the author likes. At toptenbooks.net there’s a top ten book list by a wide range of authors. For instance, here are the number one selections from a few random authors:

Kate Atkinson: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Russell Banks: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Carl Hiaasen: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Stephen King: The Golden Argosy by Van H. Cartmell & Charles Grayson, editors
Anita Shreve: The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
Tom Wolfe: L'Assommoir; Nana (tie) by Emile Zola
Jodi Picoult: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
John Irving: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Joyce Carol Oates: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Alexander McCall Smith: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

OK, so they aren’t exactly recent releases…but, classics can always be reread.

Another option, and one of my favorites, is to select books after reading about them from blogger buddies. They might be books they’ve written or books they have reviewed.

While all of the above methods are good, I wanted to work my way through my leaning tower of to-read books before adding more confusion to the selection process, so I utilized a very unscientific approach. I recently finished reading The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle (passed on to me by my sister). I thought it was an excellent book and I enjoyed it, but it was dark, sad, intense, and addressed a touchy subject these days (immigration). My next read needed to be on the lighter side. I plucked a book from the stack according to the fun-looking book cover (I warned you my method was not scientific).

I selected Delicious and Suspicious, a cozy mystery by Riley Adams (an author I ‘met’ through blogging). The only problem I can see with my selection, after reading only a few pages, is that I might have to go out for barbeque tonight (those who have read it will know what I mean). Check out Mystery Writing is Murder for more information on this author (also known as Elizabeth Spann Craig) and her books.

How do you go about selecting your next book to read? Are you inclined to read all books by an author you like before moving on to something else, or do you like to mix things up a bit? If you made a top ten list, which book would you include as number one? (I didn’t answer this question, because I simply don’t know. Again, there are too many for me to select only one—or ten.)

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: P. J. O’Rourke, Lifehacker, top ten books , Delicious and Suspicious, Tortilla Curtain, Stephen King, Jodi Picoult , book recommendation services, Elizabeth Spann Craig, Riley Adams,

Ideas for Recycling Books

2010-08-09T05:00:00.002-04:00

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. - Henry Ward Beecher

If I had my way and lived in the equivalent of…oh, say the Istana Nurul Iman palace (the over 2 million square foot residence of the Sultan of Brunei), I’d probably never get rid of a single book—ever. I’d even allow books I didn’t particularly care for to gather dust on my endless bookshelves. However, I live in a small condo so my limited book space must undergo frequent uncluttering sessions. I generally only keep reference books and signed copies. As painful as it is for me to do, all others are passed along to someone I think would enjoy them or donated.

When my husband sent me this link to Gizmodo, I realized that some talented people have come up with more creative ways of recycling surplus books. The Scanner (seen below), constructed by Slovakian artist Matej Krén, is constructed out of thousands of books. The entry is large enough to accommodate the tallest of adults quite easily. There are mirrors inside the tunnel that create an illusion of an infinite number of books. It's on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.

To see more photos of this amazing work of art or to view the video, click here.

Viewing this piece made me wonder what other works of art might be made from books. I didn’t have to look far to find my answer. Offbeat Earth offers a photo display of wonderful works of “book art.” I’ve only included a few of my favorites (which were very hard to limit to a few) so be sure to check out the site for other brilliant pieces.

Still haven’t had enough, check out:

Incredible and original Models Made Out of Books at 1dak.com

Works of Art Made From Books at Casa Sugar

The Bittersweet Art of Cutting Up Books at Dark Roasted Blend

And, if you would like to buy book art, check out the gallery at This Into That

What do you do with your books once you read them? Have you found any creative ways to recycle books?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: The Scanner, Museum of Modern Art, Bologna, Matej Krén , recycled books, Henry Ward Beecher, book art,

Having Fun with Your Writer’s Voice

2010-08-02T05:00:00.001-04:00

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice. – Amy Tan

The best definition I found for writing voice was from the article "Finding Your Voice "by Susan J. Letham on Write101.com. She says:

“In writing, voice is the way your writing 'sounds' on the page. It has to do with the way you write, the tone you take—friendly, formal, chatty, distant—the words you choose—everyday words or high-brow language—the pattern of your sentences, and the way these things fit in—or not—with the personality of the narrator character and the style of your story.”

I’ve grown comfortable with my voice. I don’t think about it when I'm writing. Though my books and short stories are all different, I feel it's obvious they were all written by the same person—or I did.

Recently an article in huffingtonpost.com, “I Write Like’ Website Goes Viral, Authors Bewildered,” by Jake Coyle, caught my attention. The article discusses the I Write Like site, which analyzes your writing style. It’s quite simple—paste a few paragraphs and click. Within seconds an “I write like” badge appears.

According to the article, a transcript of one of Mel Gibson’s rants was analyzed as the style of Margaret Atwood. Margaret’s own sample came back as Stephen King. Though these examples showed the system wasn’t perfect, I couldn't resist trying it out.

For fun I submitted the first few paragraphs of my first book, The Ride, my not yet released book, Reigning Cats and Dogs, and my current WIP. I evidently have more voices in my head than I ever dreamed.

My badge for The Ride was Vladimir Nabokov of Lolita fame, for Reigning Cats and Dogs, it was Stephen King and for the WIP, Dan Brown's name popped up.

Now while I find it flattering that my writing could be compared to any one of these writers, I was surprised that all three samples came back with different authors. When I first decided to try my hand at writing a novel, I had something Stephen Kingish in mind. However, it didn’t take me long to realize horror was not my genre; I didn’t have a mind like King; and my writing style was totally different.

If I sat around and thought long enough, maybe I could come up with an “I write like” badge for myself. Though I’m not quite sure which famous writer my style resembles, I'm fairly certain it’s no one in this illustrious trio.

If you want to have a little fun, you can go to the I Write Like site here. If you’re having trouble finding your voice or would like to read more on the topic, you might try these links:
Finding Your Voice, Write101.com
How to Find Your Voice, Men with Pens
How to Find a Voice as a Writer, eHow.com
How to Find your Writing Voice, Bukisa.com
Vintage: Finding Your Writer’s Voice, Tumblemoose.com

Have you found your voice? Can you idenify an author by the way they write? Have you tried the I Write Like site? If so, which writing badge or badges did you receive?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Amy Tan, finding your voice, finding your writing voice, Stephen King, Dan Brown, Vladimir Nabokov, I write like, The Ride,Reigning Cats and Dogs ,Margaret Atwood, Mel Gibson,

The Staggering Statistics of New Book Titles

2010-07-26T05:00:00.000-04:00

It is with books as it is with men -- a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude. - Voltaire

If multitude described the number of books available in the 1700s, I think we need to come out with a new word for the books available today, in all their various formats. I suggest teratude, which, by my own made up definition, means a trillion or so multitudes.

Last Monday I checked Worldometers (world statistics updated in real time) and discovered that there had been 549,284 new book titles published so far this year. Sunday night I checked again—the number increased to 566,188. That’s 16,904 new titles in less than one week’s time. Yikes!

Another surprising statistic according to Worldometers is that the United Kingdom publishes the most titles. The U.S. comes in second. Out of the 78 countries on the list, twenty publish 10,000 or more new book titles per year.

With so many titles to choose from, it boggles my mind that any author is able to sell more than a couple of copies of any one book, no matter how well-written it might be. I am also amazed that some books survive the test of time to become classics. With so many new books covering shelves, it seems that all of the older ones would be delegated to the back shelves and eventually lost for all time.

My bookshelves confirm that somehow not only classics or valuable rare books survive. I have a few books that belonged to my mother and grandmother. They contain advice that is no longer applicable, so their sentimental value is much more than their monetary worth.

For instance, Getting Ready to be a Mother (1922) offers illustrations, such as a photograph displaying a satisfactory maternity corset. There are detailed descriptions on how the new mother must remain in bed for the first week or two, and it stresses the importance of a nurse or other person to help care for the mother and baby six to eight weeks or longer. I don’t know any new mothers afforded this luxury.

A 1932 cookbook For Making Good Things to Eat, extols the virtue of Snowdrift creamy vegetable oil as “better than butter because it is all pure fat,” and “There is more calory (sic) value in snowdrift pound for pound, than in any of the food you cook with it.”

The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1927) is a tiny little cookbook by today’s standards, but it devotes an entire chapter to “Napery and its Care,” complete with starching and storing advice.

Through the years pregnancy advice has changed, opinions on fats and calories have been modified, and paper napkins are the norm rather than the exception, still I find a comforting connection to the past when thumbing through these books—and they’re also entertaining.

Have older books survived on your bookshelves? Do they add sentimental or monetary value to your book collection?

Tags: Voltaire, worldometer, snowdrift, napery, corset, new book titles,

Expensive Books

2010-07-19T05:00:00.001-04:00

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. - Gilbert Highet

I often hear, “I’d love to buy your book, but I simply can’t afford to spend the money now.” I certainly understand. I'm aware that many people have other priorities and commitments. Though I would like to, I know I can’t spend every cent on books either. That doesn’t, however, keep me from wondering how much it might cost to stock my dream library with diverse and interesting books—if money was not a consideration.

Pretending for a few minutes that I hit the lottery big time, I randomly selected a few titles that I’d like to see displayed on my personal bookshelves. My tab for seven selections is roughly $55 million. I’m glad I didn’t accidently hit any “Buy Now” buttons in the process of my search.

The Birds Of America – Published in the 1800s, this book contains descriptions and illustrations by John James Audubon. In 2000 a copy was bought by Sheikh Saud of Qatar for $8.8 million.

The Codex Leicester – This 72-page handwritten book by Leonardo Da Vinci dates back to the early 1500s. Bill Gates bought it in 1994 for a mere $30.8 million.

The First Folio – A 900-page book of Shakespeare’s plays was published seven years after his death. It sold at Christie’s in New York in 2001 for $6.16 million. According to Wikipedia, it originally sold for one Pound Sterling which is equivalent of about $220.00 today. Therefore, it was never an inexpensive book.

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century collection of stories was sold in London in 1998 for $11 million.

Geographia – Described as the first atlas, this is Ptolemy's compilation of cartography as it was known during the days of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century. In 2006, one of the two known copies sold at auction for $3.9 million.

Tamerlane and Other Poems – This was the first book written by Edgar Allan Poe (supposedly at the age of 14), but it was published anonymously listing the author only as “a Bostonian.” It sold in 2009 for $662,500.

Where the Wild Things Are – The first edition (1963) of this book by Maurice Sendak is estimated to be worth over $10,000 if it’s in excellent condition with the original dust jacket, according to onlinecolleges.net.

Since the event of eBooks and POD publishing, I’m wondering if books by any of today’s authors will ever be worth a massive amount of money. What do you think?

A quick note for those who are unable or unwilling to spend big bucks for books, I’d like to mention that Amazon (last time I checked) was offering The Ride for only $15.75 (a savings of $11.24)! If this is the opportunity you've been waiting on in order to own your very own copy, click here to buy now.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Gilbert Highet, Codex Leicester, Audubon, First Folio, Canterbury Tales, Tamerlane, Where the Wild Things Are, expensive books, the Ride,

Is Fiction Dead?

2010-07-12T05:00:00.002-04:00

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently read the article “Where Have All the Mailers Gone” by Lee Siegel declaring that fiction is dead. Now I’m wondering if I need to have a funeral service for my stack of to-read books. Also if I don’t have a non-fiction story to write, should I put down my pen (actually my keyboard) and look for something else to do?

Siegel says, “The practice is no longer a vocation. It has become a profession, and professions are not characterized by creative mischief.”

According to Dictionary.com, the first definition of vocation is, “a particular occupation, business or profession, calling.” The first definition for profession is, “a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science.” The second definition is, “any vocation or business.”

Excuse me if I’m a little slow, but I don’t see a difference between vocation and profession. The words seem interchangeable. Is he trying to say writers are only in it for the money and not as a creative outlet? If so, I think he is sadly out of touch with ninety-nine percent of authors.

He also writes, “But with the exception of a few ambitious and obsessively competitive-fiction writers and their agents and editors, no one goes to a current novel or story for the ineffable private and public clarity fiction once provided.”

Once again, I’m not sure what that statement means. I “go to” fiction for the enjoyment of reading interesting and entertaining novels, both old and new. If while I’m reading, I’m introduced to an unfamiliar world or identify on some level with the characters or their plight, that’s an added bonus. Some of my book selections might be from the New York Times bestseller list while other are from lesser known or newly emerging authors. The status or ambition of the author is not a contributing factor to my enjoyment level.

Another of his statements, "The most interesting, perceptive and provocative writers of our moment write narrative nonfiction." I know there are some excellent non-fiction books out there, but whether they’re better than current fiction is a matter of preference. I know my husband reads mostly non-fiction while I read mostly fiction, but neither of us opposes tackling a good book out of our usual genre.

Siegel remarks that fiction is, "a museum-piece genre most of whose practitioners are more like cripplingly self-conscious curators or theoreticians than writers." That certainly doesn’t sound very flattering toward fiction and those of us who like writing it, but I guess he has a right to his opinion.

My opinion is that fiction is alive and well, and today’s authors are as talented as ever. Therefore, I don’t think I’ll need that funeral service for my unread books. I don't plan to retire my keyboard either.

What do you think of Lee Siegel’s allegations? Do you think fiction is dead?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next Monday.

Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lee Siegel, fiction is dead, profession, vocation,

Grammar, Typos, and Omissions

2010-07-05T05:00:00.000-04:00

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect. - William Safire

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.

Last Monday at Mystery Writing is Murder, Elizabeth Spann Craig blogged about "Little Mistakes - How Much Do They Matter," which got me thinking (as good blogs should and hers always do) how much do they matter.

I’m not talking content errors – I discussed those in a previous blog titled “Bloopers.” I mean simple little mistakes that have to do with typos, grammar and word omissions. So I began my intensive internet research. OK it wasn’t really a thorough search—more of a diversion to keep from working on a different writing project. Although minor errors are more difficult to track down, I thought I’d share some of what I discovered.

Omitting a three letter word made a big difference in one edition of the Bible. Printed in 1631, the now infamous "Wicked Bible" contains the phrase, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” (News headlines make me wonder if we are still handing out this version to our politicians.)

There’s a theory that the name 'Imogene' from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was most likely supposed to be the old Gaelic name, Innogen. It seems that a printing error in 1623 created the new name.

In more recent accounts, the books in the Twilight series popped up regularly. It seems along with numerous reports of content mistakes there are also many typos and word omissions. Readers don’t seem a bit put off by the mistakes as the books keep selling. Errors also didn’t keep the books from being made into movies. I can’t imagine Stephenie Meyer is losing too much sleep over any of the slip-ups.

Since the 1950s there’s been an omission of an “a” in Chapter 2 of an educational edition of Lord of the Flies.

Someone thinks the use of the word “Enamored” in Chapter 12 of To Kill a Mockingbird is a mistake as the definition doesn’t make sense in the way the word is used.

There’s a report that six professional proofreaders failed to catch the mistake in a new edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet which read, “To be or to be.”

There are 75 instances in Jane Austen’s six novels where she used ‘their’ instead of ‘his’ or ‘her.’ (For Jane Austen fans, there’s a great site call Jane Austen Information where I ran across the article “Jane Austen and other famous authors violate what everyone learned in their English class.” )

In May of 2008 Princeton University Press recalled all copies of one of its spring titles when they discovered more than 90 spelling and grammar mistakes in the 245-page book. You can read the entire article here.

Other than the above example, what I got out of my research is that if you’ve got a good story, don’t sweat the small stuff. Though I’ll continue to make my writing as error free as I can, I am determined to quit beating myself up whenever I find a mistake in my own work.

I admit it doesn’t bother me if I run across a few grammar errors, typos or word omissions when I’m reading, but if the mistakes become excessive, I do lose track of the story and focus more on finding another error.

Do you have any examples of proofreading oversights in popular books? Have you ever quit reading a book because of mistakes? Are you bothered more by your own errors than those of others?

By the way, I suggest stopping by Mystery Writing is Murder to read Elizabeth’s blog on this subject, and while you’re there you’ll probably want to read a lot more of her posts. They’re always entertaining, interesting and informative.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next Monday.

Tags: William Safire, Elizabeth Spann Craig, Shakespeare, Wicked Bible, Jane Austen,Stephenie Meyer

Coming up with Book Titles

2010-06-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

Reconsider, v. To seek a justification for a decision already made. -Ambrose Bierce

Readers have commented that The Ride is a perfect title for my book and have asked me how I came up with the name. It’s been so long that I honestly can’t remember if I assigned my manuscript the title from the start or if it popped into my head at some point (most likely the middle of the night) during the first draft. I do know I was pleased with the title because it describes the book both literally and metaphorically. I was also happy that the publisher kept the name.

After the book was released, however, I had second thoughts about my perfect title. As a new author, I excitedly went to Amazon and typed in The Ride. When a page came up showing the first twelve out of 13,800 possibilities, I groaned. Not too many people I know are going to go through a list like that to find anybody’s book, including me. Of course if you type in the title with my full name, it’s not a problem. But I’m probably not the only one who can often remember the name of the book and not the author or vice versa.

I’m not sure I did much better at naming my second novel. If you type in Reigning Cats and Dogs there are only 43 results. However, if people hear the name, they are most likely to type in "Raining Cats and Dogs." Sigh.

I decided before I fall in love with the title of my current WIP, I wanted to see if I could find any information on how to come up with selecting an ideal title.

One helpful article was “Tips to Land the Perfect Title for Your Novel,” by Jacob M. Appel. Among his suggestions were Googling the title you’re considering, including precise nouns and active verbs, and making sure the title matches the story.

Another interesting approach I found was “How to Write a Book Title Using a Few Simple Brainstorming Techniques!” The article suggested writing a paragraph describing your book then writing down all the verbs and nouns you used in that paragraph. The next step is to write as many combinations as you can using those verbs and nouns. There are more suggestions if this doesn’t work.

Similar to the brainstorming article, “How to Title a Novel” by Christine Hamlett, suggests writing keywords that best describe the novel's content, central theme and settings on index cards, then try to come up with interesting combinations. She also suggests keeping the title to six words or less and making sure it’s pronounceable. But, I think her best suggestion was, “Say your proposed titles out loud. Oftentimes what looks perfectly fine in print will sound laughably terrible when spoken.”

If titles are a dilemma for you, I’d recommend reading all three articles.

If you still aren’t happy with your title selection, there’s always The Title Tailor. The site offers “custom-crafted titles that sell books.”

How do you come up with your titles? As a reader, are you frustrated when the title doesn’t seem to go with the book?

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Ambrose Bierce, book titles, The Ride, naming a novel,

Meet Katie Hines

2010-06-24T05:00:00.000-04:00

The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it. - Author Unknown

I am pleased to introduce author Katie Hines. Katie has been writing snippets here and there as long as she can remember. When in 8th grade, she wrote a short story called, “Underworld.” Then, in high school, she wrote several poems that were published in an anthology.

Marriage and raising two children contributed to putting away writing for a few years, but she came back to it while in her 40s. Since that time, she has been a contributing feature writer and columnist for a local newspaper, has written several features articles for another area newspaper, and wrote religious and humor articles for an online Catholic ezine.

Her short story, “My Name is Bib,” was published by the Loch Raven Review in October, 2008.

Having found a publisher for Guardian, a middle grade urban fantasy, Hines is currently working on another fantasy novel as well as a couple of chapter books, and is extending “My Name is Bib” into a full young adult novel.

I asked her the following writing related questions:

Do you have a routine you follow before you begin writing each day?
I didn’t used to, but I found I wasn’t getting any work done on ANY of my WIPs, so I posted about it, and got a lot of great ideas. I currently work on emails first for as long as it takes up until noon. Then I take a break for lunch, watch some TV (yes, I admit it), then I work on my books from about 2:00 – 4:00. I know a lot of people have better schedules than that, but for me, I need the breaks during the day. I have also found it really helps a lot to have this schedule as far as changing my brain thinking from answering/reading emails to the more creative bent.

Are there special items in your work area that inspire you or help you concentrate?
Ah, I love my work area. We actually have a three bedroom house, and my last kiddo is moving out the end of the month (thank God!). So I have the third bedroom as an office, with my desk, file cabinet, credenza, bookshelves and printers. I have to admit that having a great looking, functional office is key to getting things done. It is sacrosanct with no one allowed in it except me as far as doing work in it. It is my space totally. And, I have a great window that looks across the street at a lot filled with lovely green trees and plants. Soooo soothing!

Do you work on one project at a time or do you keep several going at once?
I actually have several going at this point in time. I have a young adult novel I’m working on, a middle grade novel, two chapter books and some science articles for kids’ magazines.

Do you write from an outline, storyboard or let the story or characters lead you?
I don’t use an outline, but I know where the ending of the book is, so I brainstorm as I go along as to how to get there. I follow the way the story wants to go – even if I don’t want to go there! Sometimes, you have to let the story dictate itself.

How did you find an agent or publisher and what do you feel first attracted them to your work?
I am fortunate to have a fantastic publisher (4RV Publishing). They have believed in my book, Guardian, all along. It was published in January 2010 and you can order it through the publisher at 4RV Publishing. My book, a middle grade urban fantasy, was picked up by them after letting them run it by a reader of fantasy. The contract was offered shortly after that.

What is your favorite and least-favorite marketing technique?
Humph. I hate them all! The easiest to take care of was creating my website and blog. I was able to create my blog without too much trouble, and I had a friend create the website for me. I do Twitter and Facebook. My least favorite thing about marketing is all the time involved. Without a plan, one could easily spend the lion’s share of her/his day working on marketing.

What bit of advice do you have for writers who have yet to be published?
Keep a list of agents/publishers as you go along who seem like they publish your kind of story. You can create this list from blogs you follow who list publishers, articles in magazines, word-of-mouth from other writers, and so forth. That’s what I did, and when my book was ready to be sent out, I already had a list of publishers I wanted to query. 4RV Publishing was the publisher I queried.

Thanks for your interesting and informative answers Katie. Feel free to leave any comments or questions you have for Katie.

Here’s an excerpt from Guardian.

Drew Newman is ready to tell his friends a secret, but two strangers burst on the scene, demanding an ancient, magical, book. He plummets into a world of uncertainty and fear as his home is invaded and he desperately tries to find the book.

Aided by the mysterious Jean-Paul, Drew’s search takes him and friends to Oak Island, Nova Scotia, where he continues his search. Joined with his Grandpa Ian and cousin, Zea, the tension ratchets up when Drew is kidnapped and he encounters the head of a sect that wants the book, a magical talisman and a treasure, for themselves.

Sprinkled with magic, “Guardian” explores the commitment of a boy determined to fulfill his promise to his mother and claim an uncertain destiny.

Links for purchasing Guardian: 4RV Publishing , Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local bookseller, and request from your area library. You can also find out more about Katie and her books at her website and her blog.

The VBT tour continues tomorrow at Gary Murning’s blog. He’ll be hosting Elysbeth Eldering. I hope you have the chance to visit.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again on Monday.

Tags: Katie Hines, Guardian, 4RV Publishing, VBT tours,

Writers and Cats

2010-06-21T05:00:00.001-04:00

Authors like cats because they are such quiet, loveable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons. – Robertson Davies

Writers seem to have a penchant for cats. Hemingway’s six toed cats are still a tourist attraction in Key West, Florida, and are protected by the terms of his will. Snowball, the first of these cats, he received as a gift from a sea captain.

The story is that Edward Lear was so devoted to his tabby cat, Foss, he had his architect build a replica of his old home in England so the cat wouldn’t be distressed by his move to Italy.

Sir Walter Scott’s tabby, Hinx, was included in a portrait that shows the author at work and the cat lying nearby. Scott once said, “Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.”

I’ve read that Edgar Allen Poe took his cat, Catarina, with him everywhere he went and she often sat on his shoulder as he wrote. The Master’s Cat (yes that was his name) would put out the reading candle belonging to Charles Dickens in order to get his attention. Supposedly Lord Byron travelled with his five cats. Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald are also said to be lovers of cats, just to name a few more rather well-known authors.

Many popular pieces written by these illustrious writers were about cats such as Poe’s The Black Cat or Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat.

Were these pets their masters’ muses? Or do cats give off inspirational vibes?

Through the years, I’ve owned (or should I say, I’ve been owned by cats). At this stage of my life, however, I subscribe to the philosophy that if it needs dusting, feeding or watering, I don’t want it in my house. But if a cat is the secret to success as a writer, I may have to reconsider my stance and replace my imaginary fairy type creature of a muse (who seems to be off duty more than she’s on) with a cat.

While authors have their favorite cats, it seems that cats also have their favorite authors according to the article “Library Cats and Their Favorite Books.”

For instance, Judge Kitty from the Fairplay, Colorado library prefers Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Patrick, known as Paddy from Pacelli High School Library, Stevens Point, Wisconsin likes Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, and T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and the mysteries penned by Elizabeth Peters. It seems “he simply can’t get enough of the Egyptian cats who pop up in all of her stories.” Hannah from the William A. Clark Memorial Library, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, enjoys Bird songs = Aves ambrosiana: A Poetical Ornithology, by Miller Hageman, circa 1905.

You can read the entire article here to find out the reason behind the selections, although I think Paddy’s and Hannah’s choices are fairly obvious. Of course, there are also cute photos of each cat.

Do you write with a cat or another pet by your side? If so, do you feel they act as your muse?

If you have the opportunity, I hope you’ll visit on Thursday when Katie Hines, author of The Guardian, will be my guest.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Robertson Davies, cats, authors and cats, library cats, muse, Tags: Hemingway, Edward Lear, Sir Walter Scott, Edgar Allen Poe,

Special Moments and Milestones

2010-06-14T05:00:00.002-04:00

Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments. - Rose F. Kennedy

Milestone or moment? I’m not going to quibble over the proper term. Set off the fireworks! Why am I celebrating? Let me explain.

My publisher strongly suggested that I begin to blog if I wasn’t doing so already. Though I enthusiastically agreed that I would do so, I honestly didn’t know what a blog was. Thinking I was doomed, I explained my problem to my husband. He immediately set out to show me that blogging was no big deal. Within minutes he had designed, written and posted a blog that chronicled the “sightings” on our walks through Lakes Park. Within a short period of time his blog was noticed and he was asked to become a member of the Lakes Park Foundation’s Board. But that’s a story for another time. Today it’s all about me!

What I’m getting to is that he led me through the steps. I developed and wrote my blog with the certainty that the only people who’d read it would be my family and maybe a few friends. Therefore, no one could be more surprised than I was this week when my blog passed the milestone of 100 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart #100, Southpaw. (The number currently shows 101, but I can’t for the life of me figure out who 101 is. Sorry. I obviously still have a lot to learn.)

A very hearty and sincere THANK YOU to the rest of you as well. You’ll never know how much I appreciate each and every one of you. If I could hug you all, I would.

One of my highlights of blogging was receiving that first comment from someone I didn’t know. Now many of you leave comments for which I am more grateful than I could ever express. I may not always respond to every comment, but believe me, I enthusiastically read and enjoy every single one.

I do try to follow back, visit your blogs and leave comments. However, during my time as a blogger I’ve had several periods where I have been unplugged for one reason or another. Catching up is not easy and I’m afraid some of you may have slipped by me. Please let me know via of a comment or email (jane@janesutton.com) if I may have missed you and I’ll be happy to remedy the situation.

As if reaching a new milestone wasn’t enough, last week I also received a Meat and Potatoes Award from Stephen Tremp. According to Stephen, “This prestigious award goes to a particular group of wise and experienced bloggers who have proven themselves over the course of time, trials, and tribulations. If you are looking to follow someone’s guidance for writing, publishing, and promotion than I suggest you look no further than this esteemed group.”

Thank you, Stephen. I’m fairly certain that I don’t belong in the group (especially since in my last blog I confessed to procrastination and this blog has way too many ly words) but I am flattered. Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs successfully weaves together theoretical physics and technology with greed, murder, and mayhem. If you haven’t visited his blog, you may want to stop by. It’s worth it.

Again, thank you followers. I hope I can live up to your expectations. It’s nice to see you today. Hope you’ll stop back by next Monday.

Tags: Rose Kennedy, Lakes Park, milestones, meat and potatoes, Stephen Tremp,

Procrastination

2010-06-07T05:00:00.001-04:00

The best way to get something done is to begin. - Author Unknown

I’ve been rather adept lately at avoiding two major projects that really should have been completed by now. Though one has to do with housework and the other with writing, I was struck by their similarities.
The first project is my bedroom closet. I open my closet door with the intent of going in and conquering the mess, then I step back, close the door and convince myself I’ll take care of it later. Later to me means sometime in the next millennium. I know the job will start slowly. I’ll refold a top, put a dress in a Goodwill stack, another in a discard stack. Then there’s a move-to-the-dresser stack, I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with pile, and on and on until I reach a point where I’ll have so many heaps scattered around that the house will look as if a bomb exploded. My rational side knows that if I stick with it, there will come the point where the piles begin to decrease and the house comes together again. My surroundings will once again be neat and my closet orderly. In other words, it will be worth the effort if I can only make myself take that first step.

The second task is editing my latest manuscript. I sit down with good intentions and place my fingers on the keyboard as though I’m a concert pianist about to begin a performance. I can’t back out and close the door like I do with my closet, so I play a game of solitaire, visit a few blogs, think up something to ‘research’ on the internet and anything else I can come up with to procrastinate (anything besides cleaning the closet, that is). It’s all because I know it has to get worse before it can get better.

I’ll start off slow by adding or deleting a few commas and correcting minor errors and the next thing I know the manuscript is in shambles. This scene needs to come earlier; that chapter has no point; this area needs more action; that character cries too much; this character is too emotionless. I’ll end up with stacks and piles everywhere and a manuscript that looks like it was written in red rather than black.

Thinking about it makes me want to scream and say forget it—the original is fine. Yet deep down I know if I stick with it, at some point all those stacks will all come together and blend into a product I can be proud of writing.

Writing this post has been a sort of pep talk to myself. So now that I’ve confessed to the world that my closet is a mess and I’m one of the world’s greatest procrastinators, I’m taking a deep breath and I’m diving in – to my manuscript that is, not the closet (I do have priorities and I’ve lived with the closet in chaos this long). I needed reminding that it’s the sense of accomplishment that makes this task (or any job) worth the effort it takes to complete it.

Do you jump into a project the moment you see something needs to be done or do you procrastinate? What keeps you motivated to finish a task?

Thank you all for your comments and guesses on my blog about truth and lies. I explained I was not a good liar and many of you verified the fact. The one lie was that I am the middle child of eight girls. Actually my only sibling is my big sister. Jan M. was the first to guess that this was the lie. Joanne and Ann verified that math was not my strong point either by pointing out that eight doesn’t have a middle. Yes, A.K., I did drive while wearing a ghutra, but I don’t recommend it. Helen, Arlee and Patricia, the shrimp was small and a delicacy of a certain area of Taiwan. I didn’t want to offend our host, so I swallowed the shrimp whole. Because I visualized the eyes moving down my throat, I immediately gulped a whole glass of beer. And, just to clear the record, it was a miscommunication that caused me to congratulate my Taiwanese landlord on his mother’s death. I thought he was inviting us to her birthday party, not her funeral.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: procrastination, editing, closets,

Truths and Lies

2010-06-03T05:00:00.001-04:00

It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar. - Jerome K. Jerome

I don’t usually post twice a week, but my friend and fellow writer, Sandy Lender of Today the Dragon Wins blog, nominated me for the Bald-face or Creative Blogger award. Sandy writes fantastic fiction books; her latest release is Choices Meant for Kings. I feel bad that it’s taken me so long to acknowledge and say thanks for thinking of me, so I decided to do this extra post just for you Sandy.

The idea is to tell with six lies and one truth or six truths and one lie about myself. I’m a terrible liar. I know, I know, that seems like a crazy line coming from a fiction writer, but it’s a fact. For that reason I have decided to tell six truths and one lie. I hope you’ll leave a comment to let me know which one you think is the untruth.

1. Even though women were not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, I once drove disguising myself by wearing a typical man’s ghutra (headdress).

2. I’m the middle of eight children, all girls.

3. I congratulated my Taiwanese landlord when he informed me his mother had just died.

4. I was in Washington D.C. during the period of the Beltway sniper attacks.

5. I love dipping my French fries into mustard rather than ketchup.

6. I once ate whole shrimp complete with eyes, legs and tails.

7. My first international travel involved a move to Hawaii before it became a state.

Though I am supposed to pass this on, I know many of the bloggers I visit have already posted quite clever lies and truths, which I have mostly been unsuccessful at guessing correctly. If there’s anyone left out there who would like to try their hand at lying and ‘truthing,’ please feel free to say I passed the honor on to you.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again on Monday.

Tags: Jerome, Sandy Lender,

Memorial Day Facts Revisited

2010-05-31T05:00:00.000-04:00

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! - Maya Angelou

I hope you all are enjoying the long holiday weekend. I know that I am as I've given myself the day off…well, after a few announcements.

Recently Darcia Helle from A Word Please interviewed Edward Patterson who founded and runs a group called Operation e-Book Drop (OEBD). This group provides free e-Books to the men and women in military service. I plan to offer my novel, The Ride and thought some other authors might be interested in this organization also. If you know anyone in the coalition forces who are deployed, you might want to let them know about the opportunity to download free e-Books. Find out more by emailing Edward Patterson edwpat@att.net or visit Operation e-Book Drop.

Be sure to stop by Darcia’s blog for the full interview and more information.

On Thursday, June 3, I’ll be a guest blogger at Nancy Famolari’s Place talking about character names. I hope you’ll have the opportunity to stop by.

Now, for those who missed it last year, I am posting a rerun of Memorial Day Facts.

My family, at one time or another, has had members in every branch of the military except for the Coast Guard. Yet the only thing I knew about Memorial Day was that it was set aside to honor Americans who died in battle. That’s a bit embarrassing, so I decided to dig deeper. Here are a few things I found out:

It was originally called Decoration Day.

Proclaimed by General John Logan on May 5, 1868, it was first observed on May 30 of that year by placing flowers on Union and Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery.

New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all northern states.

The South refused to acknowledge the day and honored their dead at a different time until World War I. At that time, the day was changed from honoring those who died fighting in the Civil War to Americans who died fighting in any war.

There are disputes over which town first came up with the idea, but in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of Memorial Day.

In 1915, Moina Michael came up with the idea of wearing red poppies on Memorial Day after writing the following poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed in 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps."

Many people today think of Memorial Day only as a chance to have a cookout and celebrate a three-day weekend. A movement, Help Restore the Traditional Day of Observance, is an effort to bring respect back to the day.

For more information visit usmemorialday.org. Also at history.com There’s also a touching video. Unfortunately, it’s preceded by a brief commercial but still worth watching as a reminder of what so many men and women have gone through for our country.

One can only hope that there will come a time when people of the world can live together in peace and future generations will only know about war from what they read in history books. In the meantime, my wish is that the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan stay safe and return home soon.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Maya Angelou, Memorial Day, General Logan, Decoration Day, Moina Michael, poppies, operation e-bookl, Darcia Helle,

Meet Liana Metal

2010-05-27T05:00:00.001-04:00

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child. - Anonymous

Liana Metal, talented author and artist, lives in Corfu, Greece. I had the pleasure of "meeting" her through VBT - Writer’s on the Move. I’m delighted to be able to introduce you to Liana by giving you a glimpse into her typical day.

A typical week day starts at around 8:00 a.m. when the sun rays fall on my face and the birds’ singing from the trees just off my balcony act as a natural alarm clock. I am usually a very active sort of person, but I hate organizing all my days in advance. I never drink coffee in the morning, though on some cold days I have a cup of tea with milk; a bowl of Quaker oats with honey and banana slices is filling and sweet; and a good start for a productive day!

I turn on my computer after preparing lunch, and while it is being cooked I write an article or two; on my unlucky days though, I just have to cook a second meal because the first one has got burnt! Phone calls are a great distraction during the day, especially when some relatives enjoy a lengthy and juicy conversation! I avoid daily shopping as I won’t get everything done in time. But I enjoy roaming around the town and talking to friends every other day, taking pictures for my blog or doing interviews with local people for Coffee Time paper. Every outing seems to be a small adventure for me.

When the weather permits, I start the day painting in my balcony, and I do some typing after 11a.m. I enjoy doing different tasks as it adds variety to my day schedule. Housework has to be done in between writing and painting-so I have one or two breaks dedicated to family chores. Afternoons are more relaxing. In winter I never have a siesta; I teach some young pupils for 2-3 hours and then I return to my computer to complete the work that I have started earlier in the day. Painting has to wait till the weekend when I have more free time. I spend the evenings computer-free with family members. I love watching my favorite series or a film on TV, and I never go to bed before midnight! On hot summer days I stay up later than usual, but I have a relaxing siesta during the day that keeps me refreshed. Summer evenings are mainly spent outside, at Garitsa bay, where people stroll and chat. That is a great meeting point for friends and tourists alike and a source of inspiration as well!

"Liana has had a book presentation on Corfu channel (local TV) on Thursday 13 May and on Saturday 15 May. The event focused both on her children's books and on her current painting exhibition that will last till the 3rd of June."

Liana’s book Storytime, Three Stories for Kid’s of All Ages, has received excellent reviews, such as the following 5 out of 5 star rating on Amazon by Pauline Hager, author Memoirs of an American Housewife in Japan:

Liana Metal is a talented writer of children's stories and it shines in her latest book, Storytime. The book comprises three short stories. The first, The White Snail, is about a happy, lovable white snail who wishes his "home" was brown like all the other snails. He meets a lovely female snail, who admires his beautiful white home, and the white snail realizes that the grass always appears greener on the other side. This basic theme of self-esteem is the major factor in this charming tale.

The next story, Let's Bake a Cake, is about friends who get together to do something nice for their shy friend, Tom. His birthday is the following day, but he is staying with his elderly grandmother who is unable to throw a party for him. His faithful friends come up with an idea so that Tom can have a birthday party and gifts. Loyalty and friendship is the major theme.

The final story, Achilleas' Pet, is about a boy who loves pets. He already had four, but he wants one more, different from all the others. He finds a tortoise and keeps it against his mother's wishes. After Achilleas thinks the tortoise is lost, it eventually turns up with four little ones. Then to his surprise there appears five more, one of them "very big" and he is puzzled at the small miracles of nature.

Children of all ages, including seventy-year-old grandmas, will love these stories of universal themes and truths, and parents will enjoy reading them to their children. The illustrations, done by the author, are cleverly designed. Young children who do not read yet, will easily follow the story, looking at the lovable animals and the happy children.

Storytime is available from Amazon. Click here to go directly the Amazon page.

Find out more about Liana by visiting her blog or her website.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Liana Metal, Storytime, Corfu,

Ghostwriting Rumors

2010-05-24T05:00:00.000-04:00

I know not, sir, whether Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare, but if he did not it seems to me that he missed the opportunity of his life. – James Barrie

A recent article, “Denying Shakespeare” by Terry Teachout in the online Wall Street Journal once again brings up the rumor that Shakespeare didn’t write his own material. Mr. Teachout doesn’t believe it’s true. He says:

“…I am, as should be apparent, poking fun at those benighted souls who believe that someone other than William Shakespeare—the most prominent candidates being Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford—wrote "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet."

“If anything, Shakespeare's story reminds us of the existence of a different kind of democracy, the democracy of genius. Time and again, the world of art has been staggered by yet another "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere" (to borrow a phrase from "The Great Gatsby") who, like Michelangelo or Turner or Verdi, strides onto the stage of history, devoid of pedigree and seemingly lacking in culture, and proceeds to start churning out masterpieces. For mere mortals, especially those hard-working artistic craftsmen who long in vain to be touched by fire, few things are so depressing as to be reminded by such creatures of the limits of mere diligence.”

I’m not a Shakespearean scholar and I don’t have a clue if the rumors are true or not, but I hope they’re not. I can’t put my finger on why, if proven, this rumor would disappoint me. Maybe it’s because while living in London, I enjoyed watching many of his plays performed. "Merchant of Venice," with Dustin Hoffman playing Shylock is one of the more memorable ones. "Much Ado About Nothing," was also unforgettable due to our standing-room only tickets for a performance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

I’ve even read that Shakespeare may not have existed at all—that his name is a collective pseudonym for a group of ghost writers. Tell me it isn't so! There’s an interesting article “Ghostwriting – A History" by Julie-Ann Amos if you want to read more on this topic.

Of course Shakespeare isn’t the only famous writer “accused” of using ghostwriters. According to an article on Opening Page “Who wrote the novels of Alexandre Dumas?” by Chauncey Mabe:

“That Dumas used collaborators or ghostwriters to churn out his romantic swashbucklers is not news. Dumas scholar Claude Schoop, however, says the plot for the Musketeers trilogy — and most of the writing — are actually the work of a forgotten writer named Auguste Maquet, reports the London Telegraph.”

“…When Maquet left Dumas, neither did anything else that was really excellent. But Dumas did nothing more of any note, while Maquet went on to write a lot.”

Another article in the Telegraph.co.uk, “Now we can all believe in ghosterwriters” says:

“In the 1830s Maquet, himself a novelist and playwright, was told by a publisher: ‘You have written a masterpiece, but you're not a name and we only want names’ – nothing new there either.”

I can feel Maquet’s pain at hearing such a statement and I imagine I’m not alone.

Would the enjoyment you receive from reading a book (from classic to mass-market paperback) be less if you discovered the writing was actually done by someone else?

I’m posting an extra blog on Thursday this week in order to introduce Liana Metal. Liana lives in Corfu, Greece. She’s a teacher, book reviewer, freelance writer and artist. I hope you’ll have the opportunity to visit. Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Shakespeare , Dumas, Barrie, ghostwriting, Dustin Hoffman, Shylock,

Dialogue Tags

2010-05-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

“Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.” – Elmore Leonard

I know Mr. Leonard is right when he goes on to say, “The line of dialogue belongs to the character, the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with ‘she asseverated,’ and had to stop reading to get the dictionary.”

I also know he’s correct when he says to never use an adverb to modify the verb “said.” According to him, “To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.”

When it’s obvious which character is speaking tags are not required. However, there are many times tags are needed for clarity. Good writers show the emotion (or lack of it) by the actions or the expression of the character; they don’t need tell the reader how the speaker’s words were delivered.

These rules are ingrained in my brain. Yet when I’m revising my manuscripts, I find that I’ve not only given in to the temptation to use more descriptive tags, but that I’m also guilty of committing the mortal sin of adding an “ly” modifier. I changed many of them to “said” or removed the tag altogether. But I left a few unchanged.

I’ve decided that maybe Elmore Leonard is a bit too strict when he uses the word “never.” In surfing the web, the general consensus is that the “said” tag should be used at least 90 percent of the time. That means that it is OK to use other tag words as long as they are few and far between. It's also important to be sure that the tag is a doable action.

If, like me, you give in to the occasional use of a more descriptive tag, you may enjoy visiting “550 Alternative Words for Said” at Bukisa.com. The list also includes adverbs and phrases to use with other words for said. It’s quite an extensive, fun-to-read list even if you’re not guilty of using alternative tags.

As a writer, how do you handle tags? As a reader, do dialogue tags other than said draw you out of the story?

Before I go, I’d like to thank Carol Kilgore at Under the Tiki Hut for the Sweet Blog Award. Her posts are always entertaining. I particularly enjoy her top ten lists.

I’d also like to thank Ranya Iyer from Coffee Rings Everywhere for the Sunshine Award. She certainly brought sunshine into my day when she awarded me this special honor by saying, “for being such a wonderfully positive person- if I hadn't seen one particular post of her's several months back, I would have thought she didn't have a care in the world, except to spread happiness.” Rayna blogs from Bombay, India. Her posts are interesting not only for learning about cultural differences but for discovering our similarities as well.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to visit both of these wonderful blogs.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Tags: Elmore Leonard, dialogue tags, alternative words for said, , Carol Kilgore,Rayna Iyer

Burnout

2010-05-10T05:00:00.002-04:00

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” - Etty Hillesum

L. Diane Wolfe is also known as “Spunk on a Stick.” She’s an author, a speaker who conducts seminars on promoting, leadership and goal setting, and a photographer. I can tell from the comments on my last post that many of you have been looking forward to her guest blog on the topic of burnout as much as I have, so let’s get to it.

The Burnout

Passion is described as setting yourself on fire and inviting the world to watch you burn.

But what happens when we burn too hard for too long?

We get BURNOUT!

There are many forms of burnout. Writers can experience burnout and lose interest in their work. An author on tour experiences burnout after too many activities, either physical or online.

Few of us experience writing as the sole activity in our life. We have families. Many have jobs and businesses. We have friends, church, and organizations. We enjoy hobbies, pets, and other activities. And at some point, we require food and sleep!

The best option is to avoid burnout in the first place. As writers, we have several choices. Procrastination is the enemy of deadlines. If we tackle a project head-on and plan our daily goals, we avoid the pressure of a looming deadline and an incomplete task. We can keep more than one project in the works - if one loses our interest, we can switch to a new WIP. Often when we complete a large body of work, we are too burned out and tired to think of a new piece right away, but planning the next major project ahead of time will alleviate that problem.

Authors can experience burnout after a heavy tour schedule. The best way to avoid this is to maintain control of our calendar. We need to understand our limits and know when to say no. Physical appearances are draining, in terms of both the event and the travel. Don’t book too many events and weigh each new opportunity carefully. Virtual appearances also require a great deal of time and preparation. Overlapping physical and virtual appearances can really add to the stress, so it’s best to keep those two separate whenever possible. Most important, allow time for breaks.

Despite the best-laid plans, burnout can still occur. Our fire fizzles and we lose enthusiasm. It’s time to stop, drop, and roll!

Burnout occurs on many levels - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. When our body and heart tells us we are reaching the end of our resources, we need to take a break. If we are frustrated with our writing or exhausted from appearances, we need to stop and recharge our batteries. This may be as simple as an activity at which we excel. We can take a vacation. We can try a new experience. We can read a book, insert some physical activity into our life, meditate, or spend time with family. We can seek out someone who inspires and uplifts us.

Whatever we choose, we need to remove ourselves from the stressful rut and refresh our outlook on life. It’s better to lose a little momentum than completely crash. If we set a goal before we take our break, we’ll find it’s easier to get back on track when we return, too. We still have too much to accomplish to burn out now!

Thank you for the good advice and tips, Diane.

Readers, are you suffering from burnout? If so, how do you plan to tackle it?

Heather, the fifth book in the series, The Circle of Friends, was recently released and can be found on Amazon and other online bookstores, along with Books one through four of The Circle of Friends series and her non-fiction book, Overcoming Obstacles with Spunk.

Find out more about L. Diane Wolfe and her books at http://www.spunkonastick.net/ http://www.thecircleoffriends.net/ and http://www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Etty Hillesum , L. Diane Wolfe, burnout , procrastination, stress,

Best Last Lines

2010-05-03T05:00:00.001-04:00

“The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.” – James Bryce

I was recently a guest at Karen Cioffi – Writing for Children where I blogged about first lines in books for children. Previously I’d written a post about Best First Lines in Novels. Talking about first lines made me wonder if there were any lists for the best last lines in novels. I’m happy to say I found several.

The following are some of my favorites. I selected them because they were fun, famous or sounded like a good first line making me want to read the book.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

He loved Big Brother. – 1984 by George Orwell

I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it! - Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner

It was the nightmare of real things, the fallen wonder of the world. The Names by Don DeLille

Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is. Continental Drift by Russell Banks

YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO ART – RETURN TO LIFE – Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife by William H. Gass

The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise. Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

“Terminal.” The End of the Road by John Barth

He waited for someone to tell him who to be next. The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson

This is the difference between this and that. A Novel of Thank You by Gertrude Stein

So I mean listen I got this neat idea hey, you listening? Hey? You listening…? J R by William Gaddis

I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I have to toss in one from a children’s book.

But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne

If you’d like to read more last lines, Best Last Line from Famous Books at docstoc.com lists lines from 100 books and lastlines at saidwhat.com are two of the best sources I found.

Does your novel have a great last line? If so, I’d love to hear it. Do you have a favorite last line from a novel you’ve read? Would a good last line make you want to read a novel you haven't read before?

I hope you can stop by next Monday (5/10) when guest blogger L. Diane Wolfe will be talking about types of burnout (writer burnout, promoting burnout), how to avoid and how to deal with it. Diane is an accomplished speaker and author. Her books are Overcoming Obstacles with Spunk! and The Circle of Friends series. The fifth book in the series, Heather was recently released, so I have a feeling this is a topic Diane has been dealing with lately. To find out more about Diane, visit Spunk on a Stick blog and website and come back next week.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: James Bryce, first lines, last lines , Faulkner, Wuthering Heights, Orwell, Dickens, Gaddis, L. Diane Wolfe,

Long Sentences

2010-04-26T05:00:00.000-04:00

"No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place." –Isaac Babel

Though we prefer different genres, my husband and I sometimes recommend something we like to one another. Lately he hasn’t been recommending much. In fact, he’s been frustrated with his reading selections and has even quit reading a book after only 22 pages. The reason—long sentences.

In Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, he showed me a sentence that started in the middle of Page 391 and ended at the top of page 393. I was going to count the words but I kept losing my place. I can tell you, however, there were about 43 commas and 5 semicolons before the period made its appearance.

Though I tried reading the passage, I never made my way through it. It seemed more like an action scene than a stream of consciousness, but I haven’t read the book so I can’t be sure. In other words, I couldn’t figure out why Rushdie didn’t break the thought down into a more readable format. Perhaps that’s simply his voice.

That sentence turned out to be short in comparison to the next one my husband bought to my attention.

In 2666 by Robert Bolaño, a sentence began near the top of page 18 and did not see a period ending it until near the end of page 22. (That’s about the length of my chapters in The Ride.) I tried to read this passage as well. I couldn’t. I couldn’t even keep my interest going long enough to count commas. During a cursory glance, I didn’t notice any semicolons and I saw only one colon.

After encountering that sentence, my husband lost all interest in the book and returned it to the shelf unread.

I can’t help but wonder what makes a writer think it’s necessary to use…a run-on sentence seems like an understatement, but I don’t know what else to call these examples.

I did a minimal amount of research trying to figure out the purpose for long sentences. I couldn’t find any reason. I did discover, however, that long sentences are nothing new. Supposedly, a sentence in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is 823 words long; Ullyses by James Joyce has 4,391 words in one sentence; Jonathan Coe’s, The Rotter’s Club has a 13,955 word sentence; and, The Blah Story, Volume 4, by Nigel Tomm is 732 pages long and consists of only one sentence with 469,375 words.

I don’t think I’ll be picking up a copy Tomm’s book for my husband’s upcoming birthday.

Do long sentences drive you nuts? Can you see any reason to use them? Have you read anything lately by an author who embraces them?

On Saturday, May 1, I’ll be a guest at Karen Cioffi – Writing for Children blog. I’ll be talking about first sentences in books for children. I hope you’ll have the opportunity to visit.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Isaac Babel , Salman Rushdie, Robert Bolano, Nigel Tomm, long sentences, run on sentences,

Novel Setting Results in Lawsuit

2010-04-19T05:00:00.000-04:00

“Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.”- Jean de la Bruyere

I like reading books that use authentic locations. I think they add a little zest to fiction. Familiar places can make a particular scene easy visualize and they add a touch of reality to fabricated stories.

I also like using actual locations in my own manuscripts. For instance, in The Ride when I needed a noisy backdrop, I had my characters meet at a popular restaurant. If the book wasn’t already published, I’d think about using a fictional eatery instead.

The article, “Crime novelist sued for setting plot around Paris landmark,” in the guardian.co.uk, has convinced me to resist this sort of temptation in the future and stick to totally fictional everything.

The article states:

When Lalie Walker set about using the Marché Saint Pierre as the setting for her latest crime thriller, she thought she was paying a nostalgic tribute to a much-loved Parisian landmark.

But, after reading her tale of a crazed killer who sews fear and loathing among the rolls of taffeta, the owners of the much-loved Montmartre fabric store have signalled that they do not appreciate her gesture.

Arguing that certain passages in her fictional depiction of a business rocked by threats, voodoo and staff abductions are defamatory, they are taking her to court and demanding €2m (£1.8m) in damages.

The author said she wrote the novel, Aux Malheurs des Dames, from an affectionate point of view, but the store’s director called it defamation, so the case is headed to the courtroom.

The head of the Parigramme publishing house stated that the book is clearly presented as fiction.

"At no moment does the novel imply that in everyday real life you are risking your life when buying a length of fabric," he said.

The lawyer for the same publishing house pointed out the Louvre didn’t attempt to sue Dan Brown for writing about murders taking place in the museum. I wonder if I should I add a “yet” here?

For Walker, the court case has come as a shock. "I think this is serious. It means that every time you want to write a fiction you have to ask the permission of the owners or the place," she said. "Potentially it represents a big threat to our liberty." She added, gloomily: "We will all have to end up writing science fiction instead."

Tess Gerritsen once wrote a blog about being threatened with a suit for using the actual name of an organ donantion bank in her book, Harvest. She said:

“I wrote back that the book is clearly labeled a novel, and that novels by definition were fiction. I also consulted with my publisher’s legal office, which told me to relax, that they get these sorts of letters all the time, and that since I had not said anything bad about NEOB, there really was no reason they could win a lawsuit. (But they admitted that NEOB could still choose to sue me.)”

I'm sure there are many more examples of this type of lawsuit. Have you heard of others? How do you feel about the use of real locations in fiction? Is using an actual site to tell a story worth the risk of being sued?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Jean de la Bruyere , Lalie Walker, Marché Saint Pierre , Tess Garritsen,

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

2010-04-12T05:00:00.002-04:00

“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away."-Linus Pauling

Blogger friend and fellow writer, Alan Orloff, is in the middle of his Diamonds for the Dead World Blog Tour. I am honored and excited to be a stop on this fantastic tour. I'd recommend a visit to Alan’s blog for its entertainment value and for information about the future stops on his World Tour. I, for one, couldn’t resist clicking on a blog called A Million Blogging Monkeys. Now, without further ado, I’ll turn my blog over to Alan.

Thanks, Jane, for inviting me to guest blog. I hope your blog readers enjoy today’s “Ride.”

I think I'm like a lot of writers--I seem to have story ideas oozing from every pore. Unfortunately, like most people, my time is finite. So how do I determine which ideas to spend my precious time on?

Sometimes I wish the ideas got assigned, like high school writing projects. (Give me 1500 words on why Gatsby would have made a good modern-day accountant. And use complete sentences!) At least that way, I could put any doubt about the idea behind me and start cranking out the words.

No, freedom of choice has to rear its ugly head.

Before I run an idea through my gauntlet of criteria, I need to examine my goals. Different goals demand different criteria. If I'm writing for my own enjoyment or if I'm contemplating a short story, I won't care as much about writing something that won't "go anywhere."

But let's say I want to write a novel that (hopefully) will sell to a traditional publisher (and be successful). A worthy goal.

I ask the following questions about each idea. If I get a "yes" at every turn, then the idea stays alive.

Do the characters interest me? I'm going to be spending six months to a year with these people--I want them to be likeable (or, if they're not likeable, at least be interesting). Imagine spending nine months trapped in a dungeon with a blowhard cousin--ugh!

Is the concept/premise/hook clever/engaging/engrossing? Dullness stinks. There, I've said it.

Has it been done before? It has to either be a fresh concept, or a fresh twist on an old concept. Same old/same old might be easy to write, but it won't stand out among the thousands of manuscripts I'll be competing against. I want this thing to sell!

Will it have broad appeal? Again, I want this book to be successful, and the more people who might be interested in it, the better. Why narrow the potential market from the beginning? (Don't worry – if you’re intent on shooting yourself in the foot, there will be plenty of chances to do that later!)

Can I tell the story in 75 - 90K words? Market considerations intercede again.

Is it something I'd like to read? If it isn't, why bother? (Of course, by extension, if I'd like to read it, there must be others out there who would, too. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Is it something my agent would like to read/represent? What good is an awesome horror novel sitting on your desk if your agent doesn't really like horror? I ask myself this every day as I look at the awesome horror novel sitting on my desk.

Is the research required “doable”? I'd like to write a book about exploring the depths of the ocean or exploring African jungles. But, well, I can't swim and I'm afraid of lions. Cross those ideas off the list.

Okay. I’ve asked the tough questions and weeded out the weaklings. Of the surviving ideas, how do I choose?

There's only one way.

I go with my gut.

Thank you, Alan. I tend to jump willy-nilly into a writing project, but next time I'm going to take a few minutes and ask myself those questions.

How do you decide on which project you want to tackle next?

Alan Orloff's debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, was published this month by Midnight Ink. The first in his new series, KILLER ROUTINE - A Last Laff Mystery, featuring Channing Hayes, a stand-up comic with a tragic past, will be out Spring 2011 (also from Midnight Ink). For more info, visit http://www.alanorloff.com/

By the way, Diamonds for the Dead is available from your favorite book store and, of course, through Amazon.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Linus Pauling, Alan Orloff, Diamonds for the Dead,

Lost or Destroyed Manuscripts

2010-04-05T05:00:00.001-04:00

“Before the invention of Xerox, I’d have a copy made of my manuscript and put it in someone else’s house, on the assumption that two wouldn’t likely burn down at once.” Irving Wallace from Ocala Star-Banner, 9/23/1982

My biggest fear as an author is to lose changes to a WIP or discover the only copy of my manuscript had been destroyed. I think it’s a holdover from the days before I got smart and learned to back up my backups. I also now subscribe to an online data backup service. I had some scares and have had a few instances of losing some of my work but never an entire manuscript.

An article in the April Grandeur Magazine reminded me that other authors, prior to the age of the computer, have not been so lucky. The article was about Edna St. Vincent Millay during her stay on Sanibel in 1936. While she walked on the beach with her husband, the hotel they had been staying in burst into flames due to a kerosene heater. It was first reported that she had perished in the flames, but fortunately she survived. However, the only copy of her manuscript did not. The article goes on to say,

“The woman who wrote, ‘There isn’t a train I wouldn’t take, no matter where it’s going,’ is presumed to have then gotten as far away from the scene of bad luck as possible.”

I can’t blame her.

Even though there are times I find myself cursing my computer, I can’t imagine life without it, especially after reading about some other horror stories.

John Stuart Mills had to inform Thomas Carlyle that his manuscript, The History of the French Revolution, had accidently been thrown into the fire by a housemaid.

Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, was well into his second novel when a fire destroyed his house. He lamented that he didn’t have a carbon copy. After the experience he bought a copier and fireproof files.

Ray Bradbury had twenty short stories stolen when someone broke into his aunt’s car. “They were after the briefcase, not my stories. But eventually I said, “The hell with it, I’ll do them over. If you can’t remember the idea it isn’t much of a story.”

Len Deighton once lost a manuscript in the mail between Ireland and England. “It was a terrible blow,” he said, “because all I had was a copy of a much earlier draft. I had to go back and try to remember, something that’s like running up and down on an escalator. Afterward he would show up at a shoe factory at the Irish village where he lived and the management would bring the factory to a halt while the author ran off a copy of his manuscript on the duplicating machine.

Many years ago William Buckley arrived in Peru with half of the completed manuscript of Cruising Speed in his briefcase. He was on an unofficial mission so when he noticed the briefcase missing, he let the ambassador think it contained the latest CIA plot to overthrow Allende. Soon everyone was looking for it and the briefcase, complete with manuscript was eventually found in the middle of the airport. He’s one of the lucky ones.

Have you ever lost part or all of a manuscript? How do you protect your work?

Be sure to visit next Monday when Alan Orloff, author of the recently released Diamonds for the Dead, will be my guest blogger. Though we haven’t decided on a topic, I can assure you that whatever Alan writes about will be fun and interesting. To find out more about Alan, visit his blog, A Million Blogging Monkeys, and website.

And if you are in the Naples, Florida area on Saturday, April 10, I hope you’ll visit the Authors and Book Festival sponsored by the Naples Press Club. I’ll be signing copies of The Ride at It’s All About Me on 5th Avenue between 3 and 6pm. You can find a full list of participating merchants and authors here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Irving Wallace, Edna Millay, Len Deighton, Bradbury, Alan Orloff, Naples Press Club,

New Entries from the Urban Dictionary

2010-03-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

“Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.” – Jim Rohn

In an effort to stay up-to-date with our ever-changing language, I periodically pay a visit to the Urban Dictionary. Here are a few of my favorite entries since the first of the year.

Echo boomer - the child of a Baby Boomer.

Verbal Handcuffs - When someone won't stop talking (usually about a subject you have no interest in). The talker has verbally forced you to stand there and listen, even though you have given many clues that you have checked out. Examples: vacant stares, looking at your watch, checking your phone, answering in short one word phrases.

Yawn Pong - A game played by tired people. In short, one person yawns and then the other person does. Should the original yawner yawn twice before the second person yawns once, player one has one point.

Redneck Teleprompter - Crib notes written on a public speaker's hand in order to remind him or her what to say during a speech or interview.

iphone effect - shortly after one person in the group brings out their iphone, the rest follow suit, ultimately ending all conversation and eye contact.

Time vampire - Something or someone who literally sucks your time like a vampire sucks blood.

Text-hole - Someone who texts on their cellphone in really inappropriate places, like movie theatres, concerts, plays, or during sex.

Mid-day crisis - when one is in a desperate need for a siesta because they become extremely tired in the afternoon and coffee isn't cutting it any longer.

Tivo timezone - A time period that lags behind real time; that is created by letting the tivo build up enough to skip commercials.

Head Splinter - A painfully annoying song that gets stuck in your head, in extreme cases, impeding everyday tasks.

I’d like to work some of these words into my novels but I’m afraid there may be lots of people that, like me before visiting the Urban Dictionary, would have no idea what I’m talking about.

Have you heard any new words lately? Do you have an entry for the Urban Dictionary?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Rohn, Urban Dictionary,

What Makes a Bad Book?

2010-03-22T05:00:00.002-04:00

“A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one, it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.” - Aldous Huxley

In my opinion, a bad book is one that’s impossible to follow, has unbelievable characters, or a plot that never develops. According to The American Book Review and their Top 40 Bad Books List, there is so much more involved in the selection. The bad book reviews were given by a variety of college professors. I admit some of the reviews were way over my head. I had no clue what they were talking about.

Though I don't necessarily agree with their comments, I've listed a few of my favorite remarks about the authors and books that made theTop 40.

Ian Fleming’s novels consist entirely of clichés, coordinating conjunctions, and appositives. No renaissance man, commander Bond is nobody, a super zero (“a neutral figure,” Fleming calls him) who lives to advertise a watch—set, as they are in magazines, to ten past ten. He’s a “secret agent” who tells anyone his name. Being an agent, he cannot act for himself, and going everywhere, he has no real home and lives in a no-man’s land where every side has another side, a third side that can be the second side of the first two sides, so that the opposing sides often find themselves on the same side. (With Ian Fleming’s great success, I don’t think he’d care that his name appeared on this list.)

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - Why is it bad? Because it’s tricked so many into thinking it’s good. (Though depressing, I didn’t think of this as a bad book so I’m one of tricked readers.)

Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence “It’s like someone put a gun to Nietzsche’s head and made him write a Harlequin romance.”

Herman Melville’s Pierre (1852)—so extravagantly mannered as to be barely readable, and yet so exquisitely conceived, so archly comic that you can emerge from its pages at last and think that the whole assemblage is pretty good; somehow the fact that the book is bad becomes either irrelevant or else important in a whole new way. (I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to add this one to my to-read list.)

Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses (1992) comes immediately to mind. I think of it as a romance novel for men, his trilogy included. Like all good romance novel writers, McCarthy uses clichés and derivative characters to sell millions of copies. He gives men a romanticized view of manliness. McCarthy wraps his characters in half-truths and idealized anecdotes, much like Jackie Collins does, only his are about the Lone Star State, the border, and its cowboy myths.

Frankenstein is a book made great by its badness. We cannot do without it.

If badness is related to perceived greatness, then I offer The Great Gatsby (1925) as the worst novel in American literature.

Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874)—that’s my pick for a bad book. His friends told him to hide it away, not to publish it, and while it’s tempting to romanticize any negative reception of a great artist, in this case I think they were right. It just isn’t a good book.

But is anything as bad as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003)? This formulaic knock-off of fascistic conspiracy theories is a trite study for a film script—and no wonder the movie was also bad. I love the chapters that are only a couple of lines long. Again, it is a book whose publishers flooded the preview/review market with thousands of free copies. Yet for many of my students, it is the book that brought them into the English major. For others, it is the only book they’ve ever enjoyed reading. IS it possible that even a Bad Book can do Good? (I admit, I've enjoyed all of Dan Brown's books.)

What constitutes a bad book to you? Do you have a book you think should be on the Top Bad Books list?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Huxley, American Book Review, Top 40 Bad Book List, Ian Fleming, D. H. Lawrence, Frankenstein, Great Gatsby, Dan Brown,

The Perks of Blogging

2010-03-15T05:00:00.001-04:00

"The heart and soul of blogging is the individual and/or the group of individuals opining on the fly and responding post-haste to one and all." - Michael Conniff

Last week I posted advice from famous authors. Much to my delight fellow bloggers left equally good, if not better advice, in their comments. So this week I am publishing the suggestions, let’s say…from newly famous or soon-to-be famous authors and illustrators.

Elisabeth at Sixth in Line:
The best advice I ever heard about was to do with 'bum glue' and the need to keep yourself at your desk.

Joanne at Whole Latte Life:
Some of the best writing advice I've received is regarding blogging. Before I set out with my blog, I was advised to give it a specific theme, or focus, which would help in writing blog posts. I borrowed a general theme from the fiction manuscript I was writing, and I'd have to say that's worked out well for me.

Elizabeth at Mystery Writing is Murder:
"Write every day" is a tip I received and try to live by.

Darcia Helle at A Word Please :
A piece of advice I like is to let the creative juices flow and just write. Don't stop to conjure up the right phrase or word, particularly with fiction writing, because it breaks the creative flow. Deal with those things in your first editing phase.

Karen Walker at Following the Whispers:
The best advice I've received about writing is to let it come from the heart, not the head.

Elspeth Antonelli at It’s a Mystery:
The best advice I ever got was to remember you can't get it perfect the first time through.

Galen Kindley at Imagineering Fiction:
My best advice was, "Don't fall in love with what you've written." It was offered in the context of don't be afraid to aggressively edit "great stuff" out.

Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs:
Coffee. That's it. Gotta have great gourmet coffee with cream.

Rayna M. Iyer at Coffee Rings Everywhere:
My favourite advice is the one I have culled from all your collective wisdom - keep writing.

Journaling Woman:
"Write even when you don't feel like it. Otherwise one would never write."

Jan Morrison at Crazy Jane:
Show up every day. Sit down and write. After awhile read what you've written and have at it. Repeat.

Patricia Stoltey:
The best writing advice I ever received? "Never give up."

Theresa Milstein at Substitute Teacher’s Saga:
For those who struggle with show and not tell, I pulled this from Francine Prose's, Reading Like a Writer:

“…a form of bad advice often given to young writers-namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine ‘dramatic’ showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling. And the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think everything should be acted out…”

Christina Rodriguez:
I like Richard Ford's advice not to drink and write. If I were talking to my peers (book illustrators), I'd say, "Hey, have that drink if you want to. It worked for all those French impressionists!"

Good advice isn’t the only perk from blogging. Recently I’ve won Galen Kindley’s soon to be released, Hearts of the Morning Calm. If you haven’t visited his blog, Imagineering Fiction you may want to stop by. His contests are easy. I won simply by having lived in Korea at one point in my life.

I’ve also won The Stillburrow Crush by Linda Kage at Nancy Parra’s This Writer’s Life. I was excited to find that Nancy included an autographed copy of her own book Mr. Charming.

Darcia Helle at A Word Please usually has some sort of contest going on. I recently received a signed copy of her book, Hit List.

Finally, I’d like to thank Tamika at The Write Worship for passing along The Butterfly Award to me on March 3. If you are not familiar with Tamika, she writes beautiful and inspirational blogs.

Making blogging friends, receiving advice, being introduced to new writers and new books, and being honored by awards are just a few of the perks of blogging. What do you enjoy about blogging?

Thanks for stopping by.