Win a free book tomorrow

The holidays are almost here. Money is tight worldwide. Need a book as a gift? Or maybe you need a new book to curl up with on the sofa since you have everything done and are totally ready for the holidays. (Yeah, that would be me.)

Here is the deal. The give away is 15 December, tomorrow, so I'm telling you now. Win a free historical novel, easy-peasy.

A Glimse at Happiness, by Jean Fullerton

When Josie O'Casey returns to London after twelve years in America, she is overjoyed to discover that her childhood sweetheart Patrick Nolan, who she believed to be dead, is alive and well. But Josie's happiness is short-lived - Patrick now belongs to another. Heartbroken, Josie vows to forget about Patrick and settle back into life in the East End, but she must decide if she is willing to forsake everything for the man she loves...

GO TO: http://historicalnovelreview.blogspot.com

Anita Davison gave me the head's up on this.

Website: http://www.anitadavison.com/

Blog: http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com/

On Faith...

ask no questions. Click on the link below. (A bit of fun to start your weekend with a bang.)

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

Blizzard.

It was 22 hours without electricity up on the Mogollon Rim this week. With the fireplace going it was below 50 degrees F indoors. Two and a half days with no internet. Phones still out. I'm glad I'd written a week's worth of blog posts as the snow began. Smart! I'm replacing the one scheduled for today with this - below. Please read.

This is really important for everyone to read. I'm hoping to hear lots of comments.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post/viral-loop-chronicles-part-6?utm_source=twitterfeed

BUZZ-BUZZ, BOOK BUZZ

Kip Cosson has a new book out. My copy just arrived, so I reread his first book, Ned Visits New York and the new one, Ned & Meece Wheels of New York.

Like the first book, as soon as I heard about Wheels, I emailed Kip and reserved a copy. These are delightful books geared for ages 1 - 10. The art is bright and colorful, drawn by Kip. His first book is about making new friends and seeing new places (New York City). The second is about all the things with wheels in NYC. Each page is written in six languages: Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, and American English.

The other great thing about these books is Kip makes children's wear that has some of the same art on them. His children's clothes have been in some pretty big name publications. Check his website for specifics.

Our friendship pre-dates the books, and I'm honored to be Kip's friend. Maybe I'll come visit New York one day and be able to use the check list in the back of the books.

So to you, my friend Kip, congratulations on both your books!

Compensation? I ordered Wheels, but when it arrived, the price was marked out and it was a gift from Kip. However, he doesn't know I'm writing this blog. I just like to celebrate books and especially those by writers I know.

Kip's website: http://www.kipkids.com/
Kip at the world's most awesome book blog party: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/08/party-to-max-five-winners-today.html

For teens

Honestly, most of us try not to embarrass our kids in public. My kids have been very tolerant of me being a writer and not the recluse every teen hopes their parents are, if not a famous superhero.

I've said many times that there isn't enough money to get me to return to being a teen. Perhaps it is even more complicated now days. Thus, I'm going to remind everyone of another Blog Party writer, Jeannine Garsee. Remember her Y/A books?

Jen does a fabulous job of writing about "today" topics for teens. In Jen's debut with BloomsburyUSA, Before, After, and Somebody in Between, Martha wants to be much more than her white trash beginnings. School is tough, but home life is tougher. Martha has a mouth on her. She doesn't go slumming, she is from the slum ~ with a big dream to be a professional cellist. Is foster care her chance to shine as a musician?

Jen's second book with BloomsburyUSA is Say The Word. Following up on yesterday's blog topic, What if your parent is gay? When I beta read "Say The Word" I fell in love with the story. Shawna is a typical suburban teen, headed for the front row seat at medical school (more what she 'should do' rather than wants to do). Her parents are divorced ~ typical. What isn't typical is her dad. He says absolutely horrible things about her mom and mate (girlfriend). To my delight, Shawna's step-mom helps her... I'm not telling the rest. Oh and to be clear, Jen's straight.

Both books are wonderful stories and I would not want to label them, but the topics are real life issues for teens and perhaps along with the entertainment of the read will come new information and insights. Even so, if you want to read a fantastic writer's works, get Jen's books.

Jen Garsee at the world's most awesome book blog party: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/08/party-with-jeannie-garsee.htmlJen's website: http://www.jeanninegarsee.com/
Check out Jen's blogs: http://onegrapeshy.livejournal.com/
and this blog: http://jeanninegarsee.blogspot.com/

There was no compensation for this post.

Coming out later in life

Remember the blog party last summer? (The only correct answers is, "YES!") Remember Susan Gabriel? Remember Seeking Sara Summers? Links below, if you don't.

If my memory serves me right, Ellen DeGeneres was the first celebrity I remember who came out and was accepted by everyone, the public and the Hollywood gang. It was no big deal to me, she was still funny and generally her humor is intellectual. I tend to prefer intellectual humor/humour to slap-stick, so I was and am still a fan of hers.

Long ago, a friend -- a nun, to be more specific -- took me to lunch and came out. I have to admit, I probably didn't give her the response she was expecting. She said she was gay and leaving the convent. She was a great nun, so my mind was racing with, "What? You're leaving the convent?!!!" You know those guys are celibate, (well the nuns are more than the priests, it seems), so what did it matter which gender she preferred as a partner. Right?

She might as well have said, "I'm gay, so I'm giving up chocolate!" I totally missed reacting to the gay part of the conversation. Giving up chocolate? She was leaving the convent? Well anyway, she did. She left the convent, not the chocolate thing.

Last week Meredith Baxter, 62, came out. I watched the interview video. It was sweet and I felt for her as it was obvious she is a private person and that personal stuff on TV was difficult. Bless.

So from there Susan Gabriel was one writer the press located to interview on the topic of late awareness of sexual preference. In Susan's book, Seeking Sara Summers, by accident Sara discovers the solution to her dud marriage. She has done all the expected things, expectations she shared, like marrying her childhood sweetheart, raising a family, becoming a teacher in her hometown high school, but breast cancer pushes her to ask, "Is this all there is?" Sara's life wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. See the link to my review of Seeking Sara Summers, below.

As far as marketing goes, this topic with Meredith Baxter is pie from the sky for Susan. As a fellow writer, I wish her well. Buy her book, Seeking Sara Summers, if you want to understand this topic better.

I guarantee each of us know someone who is going to say..."I'm gay and I'm giving up chocolate." So be ready to pay attention and understand.

To be fair to guy celebs let me mention George Takei from the Original StarTrek and David Hyde Pierce from Frasier. There. Done.

Interviews of Susan Gabriel: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091203/entertainment/out_late_in_lifehttp://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=172606
Susan at the world's most awesome book blog party: http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=172606
Book review of Seeking Sara Summers: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/06/buzz-buzz-book-buzz.html
Susan Gabriel: http://www.susangabriel.com/

I forgot to say, there was no compensation for this post.

More Doodles

Quite a few people either posted comments or emailed about their doodling in response to my post on doodling.

Laura is the graphic designer who did the logo for Cactus Rain Publishing. Check out the kind of doodling she does. http://www.lauraruggeri.com/calligrams.html

Some of these look like book cover art -- don't you think?

I forgot to say, there was no compensation for this post.

Ya gotta love this...

I have to say that I am much more likely to gently, lovingly run my fingertips over the edges of a book like this more than I would feel the love for an ebook in my hand. That's just me, I'm a tactile person.




Where I found this link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/11/the-opposite-of-an-ebook.html

I forgot to say, there was no compensation for this post.

eBooks

It is no secret that I'm not all that into eBooks. For one thing, it took me years to learn to read and I took lots of mean spirited teasing in the process.

I want a book, a real one. I like the feel of a book in my fingers, or resting against my chest as I curl up with it -- lost in the writer's world between the pages. I like the smell of the crisp yellowed pages of the 100+ year old books I own. I like the wonder when I open the proof copy of one of my books.

eBooks don't do anything for me. I can't hand write notes in the margin and draw a line to the print that spawned the idea. My laptop doesn't fit in my purse. I won't spend the money for an eReader (though they all look really cool). The readers don't have a universal file type - remember BETA vs VHS, and now Blu-ray? That pirating thing really hacks me off - bet they cheated in school too. Okay, the pirating thing is my biggest issue.

And don't give me that GREEN business. I've been recycling for years. Our recycling bin is always twice as full as our trash bin - try that with a family of five.

The ebook might be digital, but it took energy to produce it on a computer, most servers are on regular energy (iPower hosts on green servers), and don't think the satellites were launched into orbit without using just a bit (okay a whole lot) of energy -- including the lights on inside the sat companies where all those smart people work. Even reading on a phone or PDA isn't all that green, if not on satellites, they are sending the signal from towers that were smelt in factories...blah, blah, blah.

But mostly, I set out to publish a book, not a digital file...and I am so not with the times on this at all.

I've said this green stuff before and I only dare do it again while Carolyn Howard-Johnson isn't looking. But here is an expert: http://www.ringgold.com/UKSG/si_pd.cfm?Pid=10&Articleid=5018&XSection=Business&issueno=208

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6925926.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/20/filesharing-crackdown

and a great overview of eBook readers -- really cool: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/16/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-e-book-readers/?icid=mainhtmlws-main-ndl1link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.engadget.com%2F2009%2F11%2F16%2Fengadgets-holiday-gift-guide-e-book-readers%2F

I forgot to say, there was no compensation for this post.

A Rose by any other name...

Besides the bit about some new ideas on how literary agencies do things, there are things going on with big publishers - the New York Suits, as I call them.

Surely by now anyone who follows the trade news has heard about Harlequin Horizons. Right? Harlequin is a major romance publisher in the US. They have decided to offer a self-publishing option to their slush pile writers. They have partnered with Author Solutions (the group that is made up of iUniverse, Author House, and several other self-publishers).

A couple of writers' organizations have pitched a fit about it and want [demand] Harlequin change the name of this new venture. They don't want the name "Harlequin" used in the name of the new company. It seems they don't like it because it is self-publishing that they don't want the name of a "real" publisher attached to the process.

I hate to spoil the fun, but self-publishing with these Author Solution (and other) companies has been around for ages, they sprung up like crazy after POD technology was invented. Not to mention Nelson Publisher did the same thing a few weeks back and there was hardly a word raised in complaint by anyone.

Several writers' groups have pitched a fit about the name more than the concept that seems to me akin to the diva bullies on the playground when we were little kids in grammar school. Seems these writers' groups are now banning Harlequin from their 'best friends' list.

The first one I heard who pitched a fit was RWA (Romance Writers of America). Seems for years Harlequin was invited (pockets lighter of tons of donations) to the RWA (et al) conferences. (I wasn't there, I'm going by what I read in every respectable trade news outlet.)

What gets me is that who do they (the writers' groups) think they are to tell any other business how to run their business? If I was a member of one of these groups, I'd be totally embarrassed by what the leadership has done -- make them all look like silly spoiled children. And gosh, every time I think about joining a writing group - hefty memberships included -- they pull some bone-head stunt that totally turns me off.

I can't believe that Harlequin is letting these groups push them around and are changing the name of their new venture because someone outside their organization is pouting. I thought the whole thing was inventive and forward looking by Harlequin execs. Too bad they don't believe in their brilliant ideas enough to tell the writers' groups to mind their own business.

See the link below for one take on the matter. http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2009/11/23/HarlequinsSelfPublishingVentureIsItTheFutureOfPublishing.aspx
Look in the November posts for the new name of Harlequin Horizons and more info on the Nelson company mentioned in the other link. http://www.ereads.com/index.html

I had some links to articles about the RWA, MWA, and SFWA organizations said/did regarding Harlequin Horizons, but realized they are subscription only, so just google and you'll find stuff out there, elsewhere.

Oops! I forgot to say, no compensation was made for this post.