Caught Around the Web–And In My Brain

Family-wise, it’s been a very hectic past several weeks. Picking up Youngest Son from university and having the extra body around as he unpacks his stuff and searches for summer work. Eldest Son has been super busy finishing up his second student teaching practicum and is now working on his last course for his teaching certificate plus is taking two of three courses needed to complete his Bachelor of Education on top of his B.A. and certification, plus he’s moving out! Very slowly, as he tries to fit the moving out with three classes.

I’ve been experiencing a bit of Motherhood Mania, when you feel like you should have enough hours in the day, but extra brains are EVERYWHERE. I don’t know about you, but extra brains deplete my creative energy and finding butt-in-keyboard time has been a challenge, particularly because I’m at the brainstorming/drafting stage of a new project (as Cindy).

Thus the slow-down in my blog entries.

Did you know you can now put your blog up on Kindle and subscribers can pay a fee to receive your posts on their e-reader? I wouldn’t consider Kindle-izing my blog at this time, because I believe that if you’re going to Kindle-ize your blog, then you should be writing a steady stream of content, and that’s not a position I find myself in.

I’m not likely to subscribe to blogs via my Kindle at this point, either. For one thing, I’m not using my Kindle exclusively—I still have a paperback and hard cover TBR pile as well as a Kindle TBR pile. To me, subscribing to a blog via Kindle would feel much like subscribing to a newspaper or magazine via Kindle. I’d feel like I should be picking up the Kindle every day to check in on my subscriptions. But I’m not on my Kindle every day. I am on my computer pretty much every day, and I check my fav blogs via my blog-roll.

So here are a handful of new blogs I’ve discovered that I intend to put in my blog-roll so I’ll remember to visit them (instead of having to be reminded through Facebook posts that I should visit). I hope you find them interesting, too.

First, D.P. Lyle, M.D.’s Writer’s Forensics blog. I discovered Dr. Lyle’s blog while writing SEX, PIs & PACKING TAPE, the mystery romance single title that is currently enjoying a bit of back-burnering in anticipation of pitching the manuscript at the RWA National Conference in New York in June.

I don’t read Dr. Lyle’s blog daily, or even every week. But when I’m working on a book with a mystery or suspense component, his Forensics blog is invaluable.

Romance author Shannon McKeldon has begun The Happy Writer blog. Her tag line is “Life’s hard. Write happy.” It’s a great idea for a blog (and also the sort of blog that I think deserves Kindle-izing). It’s all about remaining positive—and providing tools to help writers remain positive—within this rollercoaster business. Because, yes, it’s fun to get to do what you love for a “living” (ahem) every day, but writing for publication is very, very difficult. Deadline pressures, an editor messing with your voice (has never happened to me, but I’ve heard the horror stories), losing an editor and then suddenly losing your ability to sell to his/her replacement, despite that you have published several award-winning books (yes, it happens. Writing is subjective, and what one editor loves, another might not). There are pressures and there are stresses that no one but other writers truly understand. So if you need help maintaining a positive attitude, check out Shannon’s The Happy Writer.

Another writer’s blog to check out is Cathy Yardley’s. First, she has her main blog, which I really want to read more often (so it’s going in my blog-roll), and then she has a marketing/writing blog called Rock Your Writing, tag line “Sell a Lot without Selling Out.” (I really love these clever tag lines!).

Cathy lost several posts during a blog implosion (her words). But her blog is definitely worth checking out. Both blogs are going in my blog-roll.

Lastly, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie and multi-publishing romance author Barbara Samuel (aka Ruth Wind and aka Barbara O’Neal) have been discussing the new e-publishing self-publishing model that has spawned success stories like Amanda Hocking’s. Their discussion occurs in three posts on Jenny Crusie’s blog. It’s interesting, although I found myself skimming because (a) I’m short on time these days and (b) I’m short on time. If you want to read from the beginning, here’s the link to Post 1. Post 2 continues their conversation, ending with Post 3, which discusses self-publishing and editing.

I’ve read Post 3 and Post 2, because naturally I’m reading them backwards. Don’t ask me why. I hope to get to Post 1 today. “Hope.”

Because I think I finally have a handle on the first scene of my short story WIP, in which my heroine appears drunk. My romance writer’s brain tells me, “She can’t be drunk. An editor would never buy that.” My Cindy brain tells me, “But she’s not drunk. She’s just really sloshed. And I’m writing this for a niche market, not a major publishing house that might frown on heroines walking on-stage inebriated.”

Really, it’s okay for my heroine to be sloshed in scene i. I need to accept that. Real people get tanked and still find love—why can’t my heroine?

Initially scene i was written from her point of view when she wakes up in the hero’s apartment and pieces together what happened the night before. Then it suddenly occurred to me that it would be great fun (for me as a writer, anyway) to show WHERE the hero found her (in the apartment building laundry wearing revealing sleepwear), which would lead to WHY she was down there, and basically adds a layer of “out-of-control”ness my heroine is experiencing at this time in her life. Let me assure you (why must I assure you?), she over-indulged for a very good reason. She was keeping up with her friend, who’s about to go all Bridezilla in the series. As the Maid of Honor, my heroine, Claire, felt it was her duty to keep up with Tanya. And, if you’ve ever drank a Mudslide, you know how easily they go down.

So there. That’s my justification. I have a drunk heroine in the first scene of my WIP. And I’m okay with that.

Will romance readers be okay with that? I don’t know. But that’s one of the nice things about writing a series like this for a niche market. If I’m writing for a niche, I don’t have to worry about appealing to the masses. I want to appeal to the masses, but I also want to write the stories that make me smile. And this one makes my madcap romantic comedy demon grin.

Test My Audio Demo?

I did some website updating over the Mother’s Day weekend. One thing I’m attempting to do is install audio demos for the audiobook versions of HEAD OVER HEELS and BORROWING ALEX. So far I’ve conquered HEAD OVER HEELS. A 2-minute audio demo, which features the second scene of the book (which is the heroine’s first point-of-view scene; the actual book opens with the hero’s first scene), can be found on the dedicated book page for HEAD OVER HEELS (clicking that link or either of the other two HOH links in this paragraph will take you there). Once I’ve worked through the kinks, I’ll also put the demos on my Books page and on the dedicated page for BORROWING ALEX.

But I need your help!

The easiest way for me to insert the demo was to create a text link to a new window that then launches (for me, anyway), QuickTime, and QuickTime plays the audio demo. The demo does not (or isn’t supposed to) start playing until you click the text link. As in it should definitely NOT start playing as soon as you visit the page. That would be ultra-annoying and something I want to avoid.

However, I don’t think it launches in QuickTime for everyone. A friend told me that it launches her Windows Media Player. So what program it launches seems to depend on your personal computer settings.

I have the volume as loud as I can make it using the text link to QuickTime thingmabobber inside my website program (Dreamweaver). But I don’t know if it’s loud enough for someone to hear on other computers without turning up their speakers.

If the text link thingie isn’t the best, my next plan would be to download a free audio player and embed it on the dedicated book pages on my website, much like my audio publisher has done here for BORROWING ALEX (visiting that link should take you to the BA page on the AudioLark website, and you’ll see a tiny media player you can click on to play the BA demo).

So I need to know if I can be lazy and stick with the text links I easily created within Dreamweaver or if I should download and install a free audio player program that would then ensure every browser is listening through the same device. Thereby providing me with a tad more control, as it were. But creating more work for moi (because you know I’d have to fiddle with the colors, etc., of the player to make it match my website. I’m bongo that way).

If you wouldn’t mind testing the HEAD OVER HEELS demo, pop on over to my HOH page and you’ll see the text link to the demo in two places: (1) underneath the book cover and below the “read excerpt” link, or (2) to the right of the book cover in very small print (the ISBN area), where it says, “Audiobook from AudioLark – Listen to Demo!” Clicking the link under Demo in that area should launch whatever player you have associated with your browser in a new window.

Then, please answer the following questions, either through the comments trail or by zipping me an email:

  1. What program launches on your computer and plays the demo for you?
  2. Is the volume loud enough, or do you have to turn it up?
  3. If you have to turn it up, do you have to do that within your media player or via your speakers?
  4. Does the demo begin playing as soon you visit the page WITHOUT YOU CLICKING THE TEXT LINK? Again, that shouldn’t happen, but I thought I should check.

If the text link proves substandard, then next time I have some time (what’s that?), I’ll attempt to embed the audio player instead.

I really appreciate this! Now, go forth and test!

Brenda Novak’s Annual Auction for the Cure of Diabetes

I haven’t blogged about this year’s auction yet, so here’s my plug. Multi-published romance author Brenda Novak holds a charitable auction toward the cure of diabetes every year. The auction has raised a lot of money over the years, and this year so far they’ve made $100,000. However, that amount has fallen behind what was earned last year at this point. So if you’re a writer or a reader, check out the auction items. Some items are time-sensitive (IE. only offered for a day or a few days), so keep checking in.

If you bid on an item between May 9 – 15 (which is Brenda’s birthday), you’ll earn an entry into a drawing for a $250 Macy’s gift certificate.

For more information, check out the auction website.

I Kissed a Dolphin and I Liked It

…The taste of her rubber-bat nose.

Way back in February, My Liege and I went to Mexico for two weeks. I intended to blog about our holiday, I really did, but I didn’t click “Save Draft” within WordPress, you see—and my beautiful prose disappeared when I stupidly clicked a key I shouldn’t have.

I was so bummed out I couldn’t continue.

But now weeks—nay, months—have passed. Surely, I can try again.

This, my friends, is the tale of two cheapskates.

You see, when we went to Mexico, I had three “must-do’s” on my plate: (1) I must rent dune buggies and put my back out of alignment bouncing all over the desert; (2) I must prove I have vanquished my fear of heights (or fear of falling, as Youngest Son would put it) by going ziplining; (3) I must swim with dolphins!

Number one went South faster than a Canuck in November. We tried, oh, we TRIED, to rent dune buggies, but the dune buggy place in the area of Cabo we were visiting had gone belly-up, we discovered. We learned this while trying to rent dune buggies long-distance for a weekend jaunt to Cabo San Lucas. But the fellow at the kiosk in the monster-sized grocery store was much more interested in getting us to a Time Share presentation that would save us big bucks riding the dune buggies than he was in actually booking the excursion that we decided the whole thing was too much of a PITA. If we really want to ride dune buggies, we can go to Oregon. Right?

Number 2 was the ziplining. I did not care how much it cost, I was going! My father (with whom we were staying) said, “Very well, I shall taxi you to the ziplining place.” (It sounded more like, “Pass me a Corona,” but I was translating.) Well. Not only was the ziplining absurdly expensive, but it consisted of acrobating over a dry, dusty canyon with monster rocks on which to crack my skull. Terror overcame me. If I’m going to die ziplining, I’d rather it be over a green jungle canopy, thank you very much (I vow to go ziplining in Ecuador next year—you heard it here first). (I’m trusting that when the time comes, you won’t remember).

Sigh. Two adventures that didn’t materialize.

But I would, I vowed, I WOULD swim with dolphins while we were in Cabo San Lucas.

Then I visited the website. What? It was ultra expensive. So I knocked it off my list, too.

I know, I know, it’s ridiculous. We had a free place to stay—what was our problem?

Off we went to Cabo San Lucas. We stayed in a nice hotel in the marina area, had fun whale-watching and visiting Lover’s Arch and Divorce Beach (where a rogue wave tried to kill me, but I am nimble of foot and quickly scampered out of harm’s way). I even did a nice Rambo-roll getting back in the boat for our trip back to the marina. Our glass-bottomed boat captain dropped us off on a Saturday afternoon and we began trotting back to our hotel. When, what should we pass but the Swimming with Dolphins place! “Let’s just pop in and see what it’s about,” I told My Liege.

Turned out we were there in time to watch the last show of the day. So we did. And it looked marvelous! It looked wonderful! Fun and exciting! I bopped M.L. over the head and said, “You’re going deep sea fishing with my dad, so I want to swim with dolphins. I don’t care how much it costs. I’m worth it!” To which he replied, “I’m going, too!”

Hmph.

But we had vanquished our Inner Cheapskates! We booked spots for 10 a.m. the next morning.

And it was wonderful! It was exciting! We were separated into groups of eight, and each group had two dolphins with which to cavort. And cavort we did. They’re beautiful creatures, and it was amazing to be so close to them. To pet and stroke them. To panic as two converged on me at once (they’d swim wherever the trainers tossed the fish). And the swimming portion was great fun. Our dolphins swam on their backs. To swim along, you had to hang onto their “upper arm fins” while resting on their bellies. Cameras clicked the entire time. But they weren’t our cameras, oh, no. You see, cameras weren’t allowed within the pool area. I’d already figured out why. Because the lovely trainers were snapping dozens of photos and surely we would be allowed one each. After paying nearly $170 U.S. each for the pleasure of swimming with the cool dolphins?

Silly me.

After the show was over, we were herded into the Photo area. Smiling, I asked the attendant, “How much are the pictures?” My Liege had our surely-it’s-included-in-the-price piccie all picked out. But they cost—gasp—$25 apiece!! Apiece! Or $100 for 8.

I had stopped listening at this point. “I have my memories,” I sniffed. “And a dislocated elbow from Rambo-rolling into the glass-bottomed boat. I don’t need no effin pictures to remember how wonderful it felt to swim with dolphins.”

And that was that. I swam with dolphins, but I had no proof. At which point it occurred to me that while I had no proof of swimming with dolphins, neither did I have proof of NOT swimming with them. Which meant that maybe I DID go ziplining and dune buggy riding and simply have no proof of that, either. Just because I don’t have pictures doesn’t mean I didn’t do it, right?

Well. You all know me. I can not tell a lie very often. We did not rent dune buggies and we did not go ziplining. We DID swim with dolphins but were too cheap to buy proof.

We flew home knowing we had paid over $300 U.S. to swim with the dolphins and could not fork over another $25 for the photo.

But fate loves us. Fate was on our side. Because a couple of weeks later, whilst (nice word, that) I was Skyping with my parents, they said, “Steve’s in the Gringo Gazette!” (an English newspaper).

All those pictures the dolphin place snapped? They plastered one of my dh all over a half-page ad. Hah! NOW we have proof of our experience! A little grainy, but what can you expect from a pair of cheapskates?

Penny Shoots, She Scores!

Welcome to the Cindy Lee Cup Finals, everyone! I’m Dawn Cherie, your hostess.

Today, we have some very exciting news to announce. Cindy’s alter ego, known on Muse Interrupted as “Penny,” has sold her first erotic romance single title, A LITTLE WILD, to Samhain Publishing! Cindy and Penny are both excited and happy and proud. Cindy more than Penny, even though it’s technically Penny’s sale. However, Penny has sold everything she’s written. Cindy, in a word, hasn’t. So, Cindy, alas, is well-versed is coming in second. Let’s see how she’s faring, shall we?

Dawn Cherie: Cindy, it’s nice to see your bright, smiling face. How do you stay so upbeat when Penny just sold her first single title whereas yours is gathering cyber-dust on your hard drive?

Cindy: Um, thank you, Dawn. I think. First, I am totally thrilled for Penny. She wrote her single title before I wrote mine, that is if you’re referring to the romantic comedy/mystery I’m currently marketing. She submitted it before I began marketing mine. So it makes sense that Penny’s book would SELL first, don’t you think?

Dawn Cherie: Semantics, Cindy! Tell us how you really feel.

Cindy: I know deep inside my heart that I play a part in Penny’s success. So, honestly, I am thrilled for her. However, if you want to get picky (or nosey), technically, my first single title is releasing in December of this year, from Five Star/Cengage/Gale. My 2007 Golden Heart finalist manuscript, WHERE SHE BELONGS. It’s on the shorter side for a single title—65,000 words. However, it still qualifies.

Dawn Cherie: How long is Penny’s A LITTLE WILD?

Cindy: Why don’t you ask her?

Dawn Cherie: :::shaking head::: I tried, but she’s not taking interviews at the moment. I fear her success might have bloated her ego.

Cindy: Makes sense. Okay, I happen to know that Penny’s erotic romance, A LITTLE WILD, is 85,000 words.

Dawn Cherie: So, technically, TWENTY THOUSAND words longer than yours!

Cindy: Technically. However, the single title I’m currently marketing is more like 95,000 words.

Dawn Cherie: Ten thousand words longer than Penny’s! Except…(consulting notes)…Oh, ahem, it says here that YOUR single title, which you are currently, um, “marketing,” is actually only 94,000 words. Cindy, I caught you in a fib!

Cindy: I was approximating! Look, Dawn, if you want to get crabby about it, let’s add ’em up. I have published and/or sold two short romantic comedies and a long contemporary romance. Together, they add up to 165,000 words. Penny has sold three erotic romance novellas and now a single title. Together, they add up to 160,000 words. So, you see, I’ve sold 5000 more words than Penny has. So there!

Dawn Cherie: Wow, Cindy, you really dug through your files and added up the words of all your sold works? (You didn’t slip in the unsold works, did you?)

Cindy: Yes, I really added them up. (And, no, I didn’t count the unsold works. That would be too scary). You’re the one trying to make this into a competition! Making me all…all Capricorny!

Dawn Cherie: You need to take a chill pill.

Cindy: I do!! Dawn, I must be off.

Dawn Cherie: I believe you are already (off her rocker, that is!)

Cindy: That’s it! Dawn, you’re taking the Cindy Lee Cup Finals far too seriously. I have writing to do.

Dawn Cherie: But, but—you haven’t provided a blurb of Penny’s A LITTLE WILD yet.

Cindy: NEXT TIME!!!

Cindy stomps off.

Dawn leaves in a snit, adjusting her starchy blouse collar.

Cindy peeks back in and whispers, “Congratulations, Penny.”

Penny creeps out of the cobwebbed corner of Cindy’s brain. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Cindy bows (humble, as always).

Hippy Happy Hoppy

Crazy Week continues!

If you celebrate Easter, have a great weekend.

I expect more crazy next week. May had better relax after this hurry-scurry April.

Are you hurry-scurrying around?