Can You Kindle?

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that Borrowing Alex is now available in a Kindle edition. And, if I have, I should mention it again.

Do you Kindle? If you do, what do you think of the Amazon e-reader? Care to rave, rant, pout?

I don’t have a Kindle. But then why would I? Last I checked (as of this typing), Canadian Amazon doesn’t even sell the Kindle. I wonder why not?

If you’re Canadian and if you had the option to buy a Kindle, would you?

If you’re American and you have a Kindle and you love it, tell me why. Is the Kindle your first e-reader? If you’ve owned other e-readers, how is the Kindle better/worse/different? Should Canadians feel jealous that we can’t Kindle?

If you’re American and you don’t have a Kindle, do you want one? Why or why not? Wonder if Oprah gave them to all my blog readers for free, then would you want one? (Note, Oprah has no plans that I know of to supply my blog readers with Kindles, it’s just a theoretical question—sheesh, relax!)

Alas, Head Over Heels does not yet boast a Kindle edition. The Amber Quill Press website lists five—count ’em five!—other electronic editions and Amazon of course (of course!!) sells the trade paperback edition, but no :::sob::: Kindle. Should I worry? What, me?

Nah, I won’t worry. But I can dream.

Published
Categorized as My Books

Dance Off!

Channel-surfing a few days ago, I discovered that So You Think You Can Dance has a spin-off: SYTYCD Canada. Yippee! I adore So You Think You Can Dance. After watching a couple of seasons of Dancing with the Stars and then trying SYTYCD, this spring I didn’t have the slightest urge to watch even one single full episode of Stars, but I watched the entire season of SYTYCD. You see, I decided there was only room in my life for ONE TV reality dance show, and so I had to choose (sorry, Stars, I didn’t choose you).

Why did I choose SYTYCD? Because, to me, it feels more real. I love knowing that, for the most part, these are real dancers with big dreams who just need a break. Sound familiar? It does if you’re a writer. I love watching the dancers realize their gifts…and their limitations. I love seeing them break out of the pack to prove that they do so have what it takes—like Twitch and Joshua from the last season of SYTYCD (although I did love Will and Kherington…very sad when both were voted off). And now I don’t have to get my dance-show fix from Dancing with the Stars, because CTV has seen fit to indulge me with So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Yes, I even get to hear Mary Murphy scream.

How about you? Do you watch reality TV? Are you a fan of Dancing with the Stars and/or So You Think Can Dance? Which show do you like better? Why? Are you jealous that I get to watch another season of SYTYCD while you’re stuck watching another season of Stars?

Project Family Room

Or, as I like to call it, Extreme House Makeover, Canadian-Style.

  • Imagine that you and your husband have nine kids aged 1-24, some with special needs and some adopted.
  • Imagine you’d do anything for these children, including opening your home time and again to another soul in need.
  • Imagine that you’d adapted your house as much as you could, including changing the living room into a bedroom for some of the children, but space is still at a premium.
  • Imagine you finally decided to approach a builder about a renovation. Say, a family room?
  • Imagine the builder decides to rally community volunteer and financial resources to surprise you, your husband, and your kids with not only a new family room, but an entirely new house?

Sounds like a familiar TV show, doesn’t it?

Except it’s not.

It’s Project Family Room.

Here is my buddy Crys’s house getting demolished in early September:

 

And it all falls down!

Not to worry, it’s getting built back up again. From the Project Family Room website:

The new house will be a 2-storey plus finished basement, for a total of 3650 sq ft. The main floor will be wheel-chair accessible. There will be 7 bedrooms, an office/guest room, an attached double garage, and enough space for a really big dining table! Their property will also be fully landscaped.

Amazing!

Recently, I asked Crys to describe her feelings about this incredibly generous and humbling experience. I could paraphrase what she said, but her words are so much more eloquent than what I could up with:

Cindy, absolutely nothing surprises me now. Having something this big and wonderful has given us a new perspective on everything.  When you agree to let someone knock down your home, you really do realize how connected you are to other people. Dozens of people helped us move our things to a donated rental house, and once there, we discovered that the house we left was not home, we were a home. The first time I went down to where our house used to be, I stood peering into the hole where our basement once was. The bushes rustled and my neighbour pushed through them. She sighed and confessed that seeing the house vanish in a matter of days had sobered her. We think our homes are solid and a place of refuge and we take that for granted. I know I needed this shake up.

Our place of refuge is our community, our family, our God. The rest crumbles quickly.

She went on to tell me more about the volunteers involved:

There are hundreds of people involved in Project Family Room. Only some of them are builders, contractors and suppliers. Most of them are people like you, who reach out and celebrate with us, care for us and give the best they have. People who have the ability to see clearly something that has not yet been created, and then see a way they can share in the creation. 

We only hope we are able to live up to the vision, that our new home will be full, welcoming and blessed. Give me a call in January and I’ll put the coffee on!

Crys, I think I’ll take you up on that!

Donations to Project Family Room are gratefully accepted. Please visit the website for more information, to view pictures, or cheer them on.

Friday Notes

The writing has gone well this week. Those two already-drafted scenes I mentioned moving up in my WIP? Turns out the first one didn’t work, but the second one meshed well after revisions. I’m giving it the final touches today. (Well, nearly the final touches. Because I re-read chapters as I’m writing, I confess I edit them again. But it’s my process, and it works for me, so there).

I’ve moved the first of the two drafted scenes back in the manuscript again. By moving it up, I realized later that I was trying to rush a secondary story line. A dream about my manuscript turning out 20,000 words below target alerted me to what was going on. 😉 Well, that and re-reading the new chapter that resulted from playing Musical Scenes. It just didn’t sit right. So back to the drawing board, and I came up with a new scene featuring the same POV character at an earlier point in her story arc. As soon as I drafted the new scene, I knew I’d done the right thing, so I dove headlong into revisions. The POV character for this scene is a secondary—the hero’s mother—but her story arc and subplot is every bit as important to her. Therefore, it’s important to me.

It’s challenging, working with secondary story lines. I’m constantly weighing if I’m devoting too much manuscript space to secondary viewpoints, or not enough. However, because I’m an organic writer, I find the best way to judge is to go on “how I feel.” If it “feels right,” then it probably is. And, if it isn’t, I can always revise later.

I find that rarely do I revise later, though. I edit later, but once a drafted scene has been revised for the first time, it becomes part of the core of my story and the next scenes arise from it. That’s what I mean when I say I’m an organic writer. And it’s also why, as much as I appreciate having previously fast-drafted scenes for a huge chunk of this book, the resulting time put into the manuscript isn’t much different. In other words, I’m not writing any faster. However, I do have a clearer idea of where I’m going than I usually do, so there have been benefits, too.

How has your writing gone this week?

Published
Categorized as Writing

American Title V Finalists Announced

From the Romantic Times website:

American Title V writing competition finalists have been selected!

ANCIENT WHISPERS
Marie-Claude Bourque
(Seattle, WA)

THE SERPENT’S TOOTH
Jessica Darago
(Arlington, VA)

HOW TO TAME A HARPY
Michelle Lauren
(Hampton, VA)

ONCE UPON A MASQUERADE
Tamara Hughes
(Brooklyn Park, MN)

TRUE TO THE HIGHLANDER
Barbara Longley
(Saint Paul, MN)

DEAD PEOPLE
Edie Ramer
(Richfield, WI)

NEVER COMING HOME
Evonne Wareham
(Barry, South Wales, UK)

IN A LOVER’S SILENCE
Qaey Williams
(Raleigh, NC)

Congratulations, ladies! Special congratulations to Edie Ramer, who I had the pleasure of getting to know at the RWA National Conference in Reno in 2005 (I think it was 2005). Edie and others run a great blog called Magical Musings as well as the inspiring Write Attitude. Way to go, Edie!!

Editor to Agent

A few weeks ago I heard that Silhouette Desire editor Melissa Jeglinski was leaving Harlequin/Silhouette to join The Knight Agency in Madison, Georgia. As of last week, The Knight Agency blog confirms the move (for some reason, I can’t get the link on the specific blog post to work, so just visit the TKA blog and scroll down to Wednesday, September 3rd). As of this typing, Melissa’s bio isn’t listed on The Knight Agency website, however the blog post reports that she will serve as an associate agent/submissions coordinator. Up ’til now, Elaine Spencer has filled the subs coordinator role. Are Melissa and Elaine now sharing the role, or is Melissa taking over while Elaine assumes other duties (like a growing client list)? I ain’t got a clue. 🙂 I also ain’t got a clue what Melissa is looking for as she builds her own roster, but if you visit the TKA website/blog often, sooner or later you’ll find out.

Melissa comes to TKA with seventeen years of publishing experience. Yowzer. She’s not the first editor I’ve heard of to move to agenting. A few years ago, Gail Fortune did the same, and Kim Lionetti, Jessica Faust, and Jacky Sach of BookEnds as well as Amy Moore-Benson of AMB Literary Management all have editorial backgrounds. I don’t know about you, but I consider this a positive. I guess it depends on how much you want your agent fiddling with your prose. Is the editing habit difficult to kick? (Or a relief to stop doing?). What do you think? Would you prefer an agent with an editing background, or does it not matter? Or do a multiple of factors come into play? (For me, it’s the latter).

Now that I’m thinking about it, though, while moving from editor to agent seems decently popular, I don’t think I’ve heard of a single agent who has moved into an editorial role. Is my brain dead? Has anyone heard of an agent turning to editing? Turning to writing, yes. Several authors in romance and other genres began their careers as either agents or editors.

Someone educate me. If you can think of a name, toss it my way. Just don’t toss no tomatoes.