Linkage
As you may have noticed, this blog is now landing at http://kaitnolan.com. If you are one of the kind souls who links to this blog, I humbly beg you to update your blogroll. While you're there (or if you're adding a new link), it's probably best if you list me simply as Kait Nolan instead of the blog title (as I have amply proved my fickle nature on that point). Thanks! You're made of awesome!Tess Gerritsen made a post today about inadvertant image piracy. This is a problem all bloggers must deal with if we want to use images in our posts. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve probably inadvertantly pirated somebody’s work because I happily went on Google Images to search, didn’t see a water mark and slapped it up there. Oops. We can’t trust Google to keep us safe on that front. Unless you’re just planning to use it as wallpaper on your computer’s desktop (and I found the COOLEST image for mine. Isn’t that beautiful? It puts me in the right, sort of ethereal frame of mind for writing paranormal.), it’s best to pull images from sites where you know the image is free.
Tess mentioned one in her post that I’d never heard of before. MorgueFile is, according to the site, a public image archive for creatives by creatives. Under their license you are free to
- Remix — to adapt the work.
- Commercial — to use this work for commercial purposes.
- Without Attribution — to use without attributing the original author.
Under these conditions:
- Stand alone basis — You can not sell, license, sublicense, rent, transfer or distribute this image exactly as it is without alteration.
- Ownership — You may not claim ownership of this image in its original state.
I’ve done some base prowling of the images and there’s some great stuff here! Check it out.
Unarguably the worst thing about Super Bowl Sunday is Monday morning. I have a serious case of the “Do I really have to go to work?”s. I’m not hung over or anything (I was DD), but my whole body feels generally ugh from massive overindulgence on very rich food. Skipping breakfast definitely, might even skip lunch. So not hungry. And I’m about to keel over with exhaustion because I didn’t get to bed until after 11–way past my bedtime on a work night.
The weekend was moderately productive. With some judicious help from Pot I knocked out the end scene, leaving me with just the post love scene stuff to deal with. I wrote half an exam. I brainstormed on another series I plan to write. The house got cleaned. Groceries got bought. Three kinds of dip got made (cream cheese sausage dip, hummus, and boursin). I started reading three different books before finally settling on one to read (Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell). And I learned that I’m really going to have to watch the impulse buys for the nook. This is the real marketing appeal to ebooks. Forget that they’re green and take up less space. Dude, it’s the ultimate in instant gratification! I can shop without leaving my sofa!
I’ll consider today accomplished if I manage to actually stay awake the full work day.
I’m up early this morning, a victim of awful anxiety dreams. Anxiety dreams are so much worse than nightmares. With nightmares, you rocket up, heart pounding, body slick with a cold sweat. But the panic fades as the adrenaline does, and then it’s over. Unless you happen to fall asleep and land right back in the dream. It’s been known to happen. But anxiety dreams. They’re deeper, insidious. And when you wake up from the dream, the anxiety stays with you because it’s real.
There is a lot of crap going down at the Evil Day Job. I can’t really get into it here, as it would be entirely inappropriate, but the take home is that my job and those of the rest of my team are very likely in jeopardy. So I’m dreaming of debt–my own personal hell.
I’ve realized that this is part of why I so love the paranormal. It’s the ultimate in escapist fiction because it is completely and totally out of this world. The problems I read about and the problems that I write about are so not of the norm, and they’re problems that get resolved. Problems that I have real and total control over, so there’s a resolution there that often doesn’t exist in any tangible way in real life.
I’m down to two scenes left to revise in Forsaken By Shadow. Unfortunately, it’s the expansion of the love scene and the rewrite of the end, which I’m having serious trouble with. I really just can’t focus right now with everything going on at work. I had so hoped to finish these revisions and get this thing out to beta readers this weekend, but about all I’m up to mentally is writing the 60 question exam for my Theories of Personality class. Bleh.
My nook arrived from Barnes and Noble on Wednesday. I did actually have my husband take pictures of the unboxing, but after looking at them, they’re dull even to me, so I’ll spare you. The thing came well padded and packaged in this hard plastic case thing that actually had instructions (that were necessary) on how to get it out. So I follow all instructions, pull stuff out, plug it up to charge, and look for the instruction manual to read while I’m waiting.
Naturally, the manual is on the actual nook, which annoyed me, as I like having a paper manual with an index to check out while I wait for crap to charge. I’m a contradiction like that.
Then I figured out that I can still turn it on and play while it’s charging, so I booted it up, got it registered, got it set up on my home wireless network, then I set about starting the Fictionwise club membership Pot bought me for Christmas. My first purchases from my wishlist on there were:
- The Devil Inside by Jenna Black
- The Demon’s Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow
- Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
After a few minutes of struggle (because I hadn’t found the preloaded instruction manual yet), I figured out that I could use Adobe Digital Editions to load these onto the nook (it does not come with any kind of proprietary software). Because these were not purchased from Barnes and Noble, they actually show up under a different section. Under My Library you have both your Barnes and Noble library and then a section called My Documents. This is where all the non-B&N material goes. Then it’s a matter of using the nav buttons on the bottom screen to pick what you want to read.
So my initial observations of reading on the nook:
- eInk technology is weird. It really does look very much like paper. Even though I knew in my head that this thing wasn’t backlit, I really had no concept of what it would look like. I think I was still envisioning something like a laptop or iphone screen. Not so. You do actually have to have decent reading light to read it. But that’s not a bad thing, I don’t think.
- Page turning. You can turn pages either using the arrow buttons on the sides or swiping a finger on the bottom screen. I prefer the buttons, as the finger swipe method seems inconsistent. I prefer being able to use just one hand to hold and punch anyway, so that’s fine with me. Some people criticized the nook as having a very slow page turn. Maybe it does, but it’s about the same speed at which I could turn a physical page, so again, not a problem for me.
- Formatting. So far this is my biggest criticism of ebooks. Since ebook readers apparently do not have a standard screen size, there can’t be any truly standard formatting. So when it does its magic to put it in a font that’s legible size, it loses all the paragraph indentations. There’s usually a space between paragraphs, which is adequate, but annoying. From talking to owners of Kindles and Sony ereaders, they do the same, so this is apparently just a problem with ereaders in general. I will note that the preloaded Barnes and Noble content (Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Dracula) did not have this problem as, I’m sure, it was formatted specifically for the nook.
Still, I spent some time reading the first chapter of Halfway to the Grave before bed. Then I turned the thing off and went to sleep. When I got up at breakfast yesterday morning, I turned it on again, disappointed that it takes a full minute to boot up. And then I found that it hadn’t saved where I’d left off with what I’d been reading. Big annoying.
Well then I went and read the instruction manual (which you can print off if you’re like me and want a physical copy).
Mistake: You don’t turn the nook off. This was counterintuitive to me, but call me a novice or something. Apparently it’s like a cell phone. You’re supposed to leave it on and charge it when the charge gets low. So there’s no waiting for it to boot up every time you want to read. It goes to sleep, then you tap the power button and it’s more like 2 or 3 seconds to wake up and pick back up where you left off.
So the next thing I wanted to try on the nook was library ebooks. This was the deciding factor in my purchase of the nook, so I checked something out, downloaded it and popped it on via ADE. This worked beautifully, so I’m very pleased (despite the fact that my library has a lousy selection of cozy mysteries in ebook form).
Complaints:
In the course of reading the instruction manual (and I skimmed the entire damn thing because I didn’t know the search term to use for what I wanted), I discovered that you cannot highlight or annotate PDF files. You can on EPUB and PDB, just not PDF. I have no idea why. This is not necessarily a HUGE thing, but I had hoped to be able to put PDFs of current projects on the nook and take notes on stuff. I had also suggested my boss buy one to keep up with all the professional journal articles she reads and takes notes on (which are in PDF). So I’m glad she never got around to it. I think this is something that might perhaps change with future firmware updates.
You also cannot BOOKMARK PDFs, which I find really strange. I can bookmark (and annotate and highlight) the hell out of a document in Adobe Acrobat. But I can’t even put a bookmark in a PDF? I have not yet figured out whether, with the lack of bookmark, you will be able to get out of a PDF, go into another book, then come back to the same spot on the first PDF. I’ll check that later and let you know.
Overall I am happy with my purchase. Happier still that with gift cards, I didn’t spend but $150 of my own money. I think I will have access via the library and Fictionwise to books that I likely wouldn’t find easily in a used bookstore and would be less inclined to pay complete full price for (I am in love with micropay). And then there’s that whole instant gratification thing. I wonder if I can turn my chocolate addiction onto ebooks?
Anyway, I don’t think this will ever replace reading regular books for me (at least not until they fix the formatting issues), but it has its own place in my library and will be fabulous for travel.
I’m plowing my way through revisions on Forsaken By Shadow. I’m pushing really hard in hopes that I can get it finished and out to beta readers by the weekend. I took a little time out last night to play with my new nook, which arrived yesterday. A more detailed post on that to come. But anyway, as I was playing around and reading through the opening pages of the ebooks I initially downloaded–which I’ve heard great things about and have been really looking forward to–I was just kind of…meh. I’ve been the same way with Ecstasy Unveiled, which I’ve been eagerly anticipating for MONTHS. It’s totally unlikely that favorite authors have suddenly dumped something on me that’s not to my liking, so I conclude that at long last, after 15 months of almost non-stop paranormal romance and urban fantasy reading and writing, I really need to cleanse my palette.
I blame J.R. Ward for starting it off. A friend of mine insisted that I try the Black Dagger Brotherhood, which I plowed through in its entirety in about two weeks. And then nothing at all would sate my reading or writing appetite but more of the same genre. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a lengthy craving for one thing before. Unlike some people, I like to read mostly in the genre that I’m writing when I’m writing because if I go off and read some snarky, light cozy mystery, it will temporarily alter my tone and that just doesn’t fit with what I write most of the time. So with a very few exceptions, I haven’t touched anything from the Leaning Tower of To Be Read that was not somehow paranormal in nature for over a year. And I’ve read so many awesome books! I’ve got stacks more on my bookshelves waiting for the time.
But this weekend, I think I need a change of pace. While the revisions aren’t anything I can’t handle, I’m really pouring a lot of myself into some of them, so I’d like a break. Something that isn’t going to jerk me around emotionally. If I knock out these revisions as planned, I want to spend the weekend reading something totally different. Maybe some of those nice, light cozies I mentioned–I’ve got loads. Then I think I’ll be able to better dive into my next project next week.
Well this was a lovely surprise! NewToWritingGirl, whom I got to know during the month I hosted the Novel Push Initiative, has nominated me for the Prolific Blogger Award! Thanks!
Prolific certainly seems to suit. I looked recently at my number of posts over the last 3 years (yes, Shadow and Fang will be turning 3 in March), and it averages out to about 355 posts per year…
The award originally comes from this blog. And it comes with rules:
1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.
So without further ado–the nominees are:
- Joely Sue Burkhart: who never gives up and has a big heart
- Nicole Peeler: who never fails to make me think or laugh
- Zoe Winters: who brings a welcome and entertaining voice of dissension to traditional publishing
- Melissa Francis: who also makes me laugh
- Carrie Clevenger: who manages to say more meaningful stuff in flash fiction than others say in whole novels
- Lilith Saintcrow: who writes kick ass books and always shares great info with the rest of us
Go forth and nominate ladies!
After spending most of yesterday twisting myself into an emotional pretzel and giving myself a headache with my freak out over what Pot would say about Forsaken By Shadow, I had a nice shiny critique in my inbox this morning (because she is awesome like that). And all my freaking out was for naught. With the exception of one line, I agreed with her about every single point, and all the revisions are relatively easily done. My biggest problems were needing to go back and properly seed things that I came up with in the second half in the first half (so that they don’t come totally out of left field); getting my love of detail under control (more is not always better, Linus, sometimes it’s just more); layering in more emotional connection in some scenes; and fixing some inconsistencies. I can do that.
My brain has already been zipping along at 90 to nothing about changes and enhancements I can make. Only one scene is getting cut–the information will be seeded elsewhere. And one other scene is getting split into two, so it allows me to keep my nice even number. Now the biggest problem is just trying to mentally put it aside so I can do the job I’m actually PAID to do when all I want to do is roll up my sleeves and dive into this like Scrooge McDuck into his money pit.
Who knew I’d be so excited about revisions?
On the plus side, apparently I did a really good job with my action scenes, didn’t have any of the fluffyverse tangents I have been prone to in the past, and did a good job being concise rather than rambly.
I feel better.
Now if I can just find the time this week, I THINK I can plow through most of this this week and have it out to betas by end of next week. THEN I’ll get started on First Blood.
So one of my goals for 2010 was to do a better job keeping track of my production. I figure it makes sense to do a monthly report (as it’s not likely to interest anybody but me, and I figure you’ll let me get away with one of these boring progress reports every four weeks).
In the month of January:
- I finished the first draft of novella Forsaken By Shadow at 36,734 words. I started this back in September of 09, so it was in production, so to speak, for 130 days of actual writing (though I also wrote a class from scratch during the same time frame, so it’s not QUITE as slow as it might appear).
- I wrote 14,806 words. This works out to a daily average of 478 words (779 words averaged on the days I actually wrote).
- Of those, 12,787 words actually stayed in the manuscript, for a net loss of 2,019 words. Well, actually, it may be that I cut and wrote more, but the net difference was 2,019. I’m kind of interested in following this year how many words I write and then just toss away because they suck.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the start of 2010, considering that I was traveling or sick for a large part of the month (and actually the fact that I was traveling or sick contributed to me being not at work and thus having more writing time, in fact). Can’t say those same factors did anything great for my weight loss efforts…
Anyway, as of today, February 1st, I’m setting off on draft 2 of First Blood, formerly known as Hunted In Shadow.
After the frigid, rainy ick of the last couple of days, this morning dawned chill and beautifully sunny. If the dog park wouldn’t be a morass of mud, I’d take the girls for a romp. But a walk will have to do. Perhaps two, as I’m not sure I want to wait until my night-working spouse arises from the dead to enjoy the sunshine. I really feel WELL today, and I’d really like to move, to shake off any lingering sense of illness. If I get REALLY motivated, I might even put down the landscape fabric and four huge bags of pine straw in the flower beds.
Last night we had a smashing time. My oldest friend came over for supper, then we all went to see Leap Year (cute), and came back for tea and a rousing Wii Sports tournament. I really love having bowling tournaments with Wii Sports. No creepy rental shoes, much cheaper than the bowling alley. Then I hit the hay very late and dreamed of Marley. Since tomorrow is the first of February and my self-declared day to start the Next Project, I think that’s my confirmed answer. Rewriting last year’s book is the next project. As I find myself with the whole of the day stretched out with nothing absolutely pressing that I have to do, other than writing a check to pay the electric bill and driving to put it in the slot, I think I will start that. And I want to mix up a batch of dough from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes A Day, as I finally found vital wheat gluten. Has anybody else’s Walmart stopped carrying yeast?
In other news, despite the miserable failure of my novella title poll yesterday (no one voted but me), I consulted with a couple of my CPs, and I’ve decided the title is Forsaken By Shadow. There’s this little snick in my mind at the sound of that one that I didn’t get for any of the other alternatives. And it breaks my [blank] and [blank] pattern I seemed to be stuck in.
I really want to cook something wonderful today. No idea what. But I have the urge to create in my kitchen. I’m well stocked on ingredients, so I just need some culinary inspiration. I suppose I’ll dive into my pile of cooking magazines and see what all I’ve flagged, then figure out what I can adapt (since I pretty well always am missing some kind of ingredient). Perhaps a quiche.
1. MY NOOK HAS SHIPPED 3 DAYS EARLY!!!!!!!!!!
2. I just finished reading Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, and I at once hate and envy her for the twist she pulls off at the end and must immediately pick up City of Ashes.
3. Before I start that, though, I’m going to read Ecstasy Unveiled.
4. We saw snow. It’s barely there flurries, but it’s Mississippi, so it counts.
5. I wrote the opening paragraphs to my second novella. The opening line: Finn was steeped in the scents and textures of her first love when the news of Orrin’s return reached her.
6. I thought of an alternate title to the first novella that I think I might like better. Remember, this is the blurb:
When her father is captured by military scientists, firecaster Embry Hollister will do anything, break any rule to free him. Unable to complete her mission alone, she turns to the only Shadow Walker who can help her—her father’s protégé and foster son, Gage Dempsey, whose memory was wiped years ago. Embry and Gage must fight the clock—and their undeniable attraction—praying that his skills return in time to infiltrate a secret military base and rescue the man they both call father.
I thought I would make a poll. Which would you be more likely to pick up/buy?
7. Tonight we’re going to see Leap Year.
It’s raining today. One of those depressing winter drizzles that makes you want to stay in bed under heaps of toasty covers and sleep. Since there is no sleeping in in my immediate future today, I’m treating myself to a bowl of Scottish oatmeal (my favorite winter breakfast). I’m feeling closer to back to normal, though still not quite up to working out (hoping to get back to some nice, easy yoga this weekend to ease back into it for next week). Do you realize I haven’t had a full week back at work for the entire month of January? We didn’t start back until the 4th. I had a day at either end of the weekend of MLK day, and this week I was sick. I’m ready to get back to normal.
Normal, for me, means writing.
No matter how much I enjoy being between projects for the opportunity to catch up on reading (and I’m enjoying the hell out of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones and salivating over my waiting copy of Larissa Ione’s Ecstasy Unveiled), I’ve got this itch. Some of it is undoubtedly a seed of fear that I’ll be paralyzed by page fright again when I sit down to work if I take more than a day or two off. That’s generally how writer’s block expresses itself in me. I never have a shortage of ideas. It’s getting the words on the paper. Or screen, as the case may be.
But mixed in there is also this delicious, anxious sense of anticipation. I am about to set out on a new voyage. Well, actually the plan is that I’m to set out on a new trip to an old destination and rewrite last year’s book. But because I haven’t actually started it yet, there’s still the possibility that I could work on something else. The heroine of my culinary paranormal series was speaking up over the weekend. And reading City of Bones makes me want to revisit the YA trilogy I have planned. Then last night, as I was trying to sleep, Finn, the heroine of the second novella, started talking to me. Which would have been really annoying, except that she’s…well, she’s funny and charming in a goofy sort of way. She has a dark message to deliver as part of her story, but her personality is kind of bubbly. Which is unlike most of my other heroines, who generally have some dark, awful thing in their emotional past.
When I’m in this in between place, I think there’s a part of me that wonders whether the book I have planned is the “right” book. If it’s what I really “should” work on. When you’re an unpublished hopeful, you always have the question in your heart, “Is this the one?” And it’s so hard to know! I don’t write for the market. It’s impractical, as it takes me such a long time to produce, and market trends change in that time. Hell, they change from the time a book is accepted for publication and the day it hits the shelves. Paranormal is huge right now. So is YA. I don’t really think that’s changing, so I’m pretty comfortable with that side of things. But what do you do when you have so many stories calling to you? How do you choose?
The Plan (all caps, yes, that’s on purpose, because I have A Plan) is to redraft Hunted in Shadow (which I am considering retitling to First Blood)–and I’m under no illusions that it’s a revision. It is a full on rewrite with only one or two scenes that get to stay as they are from the first draft. In theory, because I’ve been here before, because I have spent time with these characters, it should go faster than the first draft did (I began writing the first draft in February 2009 and finished it in September 2009–and that after three months of plotting). I’d like to shave two months off that time. Which is doable if I stick to 500 words a day, average (though that doesn’t take into account the new class I’ll be writing over the spring and summer). But this year, since I have proved to myself that I can bull through to the end, that I can keep going even when it gets hard and redirect myself instead of going on to sexy next book (a really bad habit, established over years, that I’ve been trying to break)–this year, I am going to allow myself some wiggle room to play. If something new and intriguing pops up, I’m not going to put it off. I’ll follow the white rabbit and see where it leads me when inspiration is fresh. And then be sure to come back to the main project.
Today is my first day back at the Evil Day Job after two days out with a stomach bug and a steady diet of ginger ale, saltine crackers, and ramen noodle soup. I did not want to get up this morning, largely because a) I was sleeping really well and b) I had a hard time going to sleep last night because my brain was running 90 to nothing.
The plant I bought on clearance at Lowe’s on Monday was also a victim of my stomach flu. Largely because I stuck it in my car to bring to work and it’s been there for 2 days in the cold. I’m not sure if it will recover. Poor plant.
Yesterday I finished the first draft pass of clean up and fill in revisions on the novella, which I really should start calling by its name since no other title has hit me. Beyond Shadow and Flame. I did the spelling and grammar pass and filled in all the bracketed stuff. And in the end–I really love this story. I’m sure there are some problems with it and things that my intrepid CP Pot will find to attack with her little pink hammer, but unlike the first draft of HiS last year, I feel good about finishing this. I think I have a good, solid, well put together story.
Hubby is having massive computer problems, which leads me to a Public Service Announcement: Back up your shit! I don’t care if it’s not easy. You’ll thank yourself later. I believe I will be doing that later today…
I’ve seen a lot about two particular topics in the writers’ blogverse this last couple of weeks. The first is ebook piracy. The second is voice and point of view. Now piracy I get. Reactions have ranged from “it’s a reality, let’s deal with it” to “the sky is falling”. I said my piece about it last week. But why are we suddenly talking about point of view? I’ve seen at least six blog posts in the last week–and most of them were doing a rehash actually DEFINING the different points of view. Did I miss something? Has there suddenly been a rash of people who don’t know the difference between first, second, third, and omniscient? I mean, I guess, I can see discussing the merits, strengths, and weaknesses of each (I prefer limited revolving third–switching between hero and heroine and occasionally villain, for anyone who cares). But it just strikes me as kind of an odd thing to be discussing.
I just started City of Bones over the weekend, which is made of awesome. I believe I’ll finish reading that before I jump into the next project. Partially it’s because it’s a refilling the well sort of read and partially because I’m hoping to get back Pot’s critique so I can tackle any revisions on BSF and get it out to betas before I bury myself in Draft 2 of HiS.
Time to catch up here at the office!
Last night, after 130 days, I finished the first draft of Beyond Shadow and Flame. Four months for a 35,479 word novella might seem like a long time until you take into account that I wrote an entire class from scratch too during that time span. I even finished it 5 days before my self imposed deadline at the end of January. Woot! And the despite the fact that the ending few paragraphs need major work (I indulged in a massive cheese fest that is not permitted to stay in revisions), I’m feeling really positive about the end of this one (as opposed to my absolute depression over the end of HiS back in September). Unlike its predecessor, I believe this novella is a lot closer to actually finished. Yeah, it needs revisions. There were some major story decisions I made halfway through that I need to be sure and seed earlier in the story, and of course there are some general first drafty wrinkles that need ironing out. But all the bones are there. The character arcs are there. I realistically think this could be ready to distribute by maybe April (time to get back revisions from assorted crit partners and beta readers, assimilate their feedback, format, etc.).
Today I plan to do a clean up pass before passing on to a few people.
In other news, the awesome Carrie Clevenger has nominated me for The Circle of Friends Award. It was a lovely compliment to the day (and helped make up for my unruly stomach necessitating excesses of gingerale). So today I shall pass on something good (instead of stomach bug germs). I nominate:
Kerry Allen: She makes me laugh in the best possible way with her fiction.
H. C. Zuerner: Who never gives up and always maintains a positive attitude.
Myra McEntire: Who I still want to bribe to borrow that ARC of Linger. And who created The Fort. ‘Nuff said.
Shawna Thomas: Who manages to juggle 5 kids AND writing. I am consistently amazed. She totally can’t be old enough to have 5 kids…
Kelly of Evil Shenanigans: Who isn’t a fiction writer, but used to sing opera, and that’s darn cool. She’s also a kick ass baker and will make you gain weight just from reading her recipes.
Ladies, you know the drill! Copy the badge and nominate some folks!
Fate often has a funny sense of humor. Yesterday was a long and kind of stressful day at the EDJ, and it left me thinking “I want a day off.” That did NOT include waking up vomiting with the stomach plague this morning. So not cool. There’s stuff going around. I’m home. Hoping for stomach to behave enough to finish the scene I’m working on (What? You thought I’d be sleeping?). And if I have some time after that, I’d really like to get a chunk read of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, which I’ve been totally sucked into from page 1.
So in lieu of an awesome post from me, I’m going to pass on some stuff I’ve read lately that I thought was interesting.
Tess Gerritsen made a post the other day about the top 10 most pirated books of 2009:
1. Kama Sutra
2. Photoshop Secrets
3. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex
4. The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
5. Solar House: A Guide for the Solar Designer
6. Before Pornography: Erotic Writing In Early Modern England
7. Twilight: Complete Series
8. How To Get Anyone To Say YES: The Science Of Influence
9. Nude Photography: The Art And The Craft
10. Fix It: How To Do All Those Little Repair Jobs Around The Home
The scientist in me is rather fascinated by this list. With the exception of the Twilight series, it seems like a list that is very male skewed. Not that women aren’t into sex, but …
C. J. Redwine, in her awesomeness, is holding a contest about cupcakes. Yes, you heard right. Cupcakes. She’s going to make some based on whichever character wins. Right now the were-platypus is in the lead with Jack Sparrow coming in behind. My poor Chuck Norris is lagging. Go vote for your favorite!
Larry Brooks made a really interesting post about What We Can Learn from Episodic TV, using the oh so awesome Burn Notice as an example. I heart Michael and Fiona. The post does a great job of talking about the difference between foreground and background plot (and differentiates it from backstory and subplot). A must read for anybody writing (or thinking about writing) series.
Now if only he’d do the story structure anatomy of a contemporary romance. I’d love to see story structure mapped out when there’s not a clear bad guy/antagonist/murderer involved. 
Hint hint Larry.
Stomach is behaving at the moment, so going to take the time to throw together some kind of crock pot soup while I still can. See y’all on the flip side.
Recipe of the day: Chicken and rice, people style.
I was trying to find some notes I’d made about a plot point I was recently discussing with Pot. We do all our chats in GoogleTalk, so everything is nice and logged in my Gmail account, which makes them searchable with the awesome power of Google.
As long as you can remember enough details of the conversation to actually pull it out from the literally thousands of chat records we’ve accrued over the last three years.
So I decided there has to be a better way of organizing myself. I am writing a series and have done so much world building over the last year or so. As I move forward, I need to have some way of organizing my notes. I tried tagging things from within Gmail, but I’ve got so much unrelated stuff tagged and I wasn’t being consistent about it, so that really wasn’t the answer. I used to use Google Notebooks religiously, then Google axed that and moved to their Google Sites, which I’ve also used, but don’t like as well. I tried ZoHo Notebooks, which aren’t bad, but I don’t like the way their extension fits and works with Firefox.
Last night I set out to find something new. I based my search on this article about the Top 10 Online Note Taking Applications. I picked online because I have so many notes that are in chat or email, it makes no sense to write them down, and I don’t always have access to a printer. But I DO almost always have access to a computer and internet. And since I work between many computers, online is ideal so that I can access my notes from anywhere.
After reading the article descriptions, I narrowed my choices down to Ubernote, Springnote, WebAsyst, and Luminotes, which I promptly signed up for free accounts with. I wound up immediately rejecting Luminotes because it is based on Wiki. Now I very much like Wikis. I’ve used them many times before, but that’s not quite what I was wanting this time. Springnote was next, and it was also wiki based, with an iphone ap, and nifty shareable capabilities, but I ultimately rejected it, as it doesn’t allow you to clip from websites easily and it didn’t seem to have any kind of extension to add to my browser to make it easy to add information. Next I looked at WebAsyst. This one has some really cool collaborative capabilities (that I may even bring up at Evil Day Job). But again, no browser integration.
So that brings me to Ubernote. Does have browser toolbar to make it easy to snatch and grab info from websites online (handy for doing research). There’s tagging capability. You can attach files to notes. And my very favorite, you can email notes to your account. Which means that when I have a relevant email or chat transcript, I can forward it to myself, easily remove any chatty stuff that’s not related, tag it, organize it, and actually FIND IT when I need to. You can add checkbox lists to stuff, and somehow or other you can assign tasks (though I haven’t figured this out). It ALSO allows you to import your Google Notebook (in case you’re like me and used it a LOT). There’s an iGoogle gadget, and an ability to Tweet or AOL IM stuff to your notebook as well. All in all, I think this is going to wind up being a really nice way to keep myself organized. I’ll just have to make it part of my process in the future because NO WAY can I go back through all my Google records for the worldbuilding stuff I’ve discussed up to now!
Do you have a favorite note taking program?
