FYI

As if you don’t have enough to read, check out this eye-opener:  Confessions of a Publisher.

The first paragraph almost caused me to fall out of my chair.  I mean, I knew that, but I didn’t know anyone else knew that.

Sequence

Read these two excerpts and tell me which one you like better…

This one, a mishmash of sentences as they occurred to the writer (me):

Early morning light crept across the dirt floor.  When would they come for him? What monstrous hour would be his time? Steve watched a spider build its web between the two metal bars of his cot. He noted the beads of dew on the web without really seeing them, without seeing the spider or its red belly, without caring about a potential bite from its venomous fangs.  Down the hall, keys rattled on a heavy chain, a door clanked and a prisoner whined something unintelligible.  Somewhere, within the compound but farther away, two other men laughed.  It was not the sound of two men sharing a joke.  Steve squatted on the ground, pulling his legs up until even his toes were covered by the darkness.

Wiki

So, Wikipedia is down for the day.  That’s kind of scary, isn’t it?  Even if it is only for 24 hours.

Makes me want to run down to the store and buy a set of encyclopedias.  Of course, encyclopedias are like automobiles.  As soon as you cross over the curb, they’re not worth as much as you paid for them.

It also makes me  think about government control.  For all the officials bemoaning of short funds and national debt, there seems to be no shortage or end-in-sight to the government’s ability to set-up new agencies and lockdowns on information.  (You don’t think they can monitor these new rules without spending a zillion dollars, do you?)

Are we approaching a time when what we KNOW is only what ‘they’ want us to KNOW???  Is the Internet the last vestige of secret knowledge for those who can ferret it out?   Are they putting a public relations spin on what they’re doing?  Is a copyright more important that 4th Amendment?

The government has its nose in too many things.  Don’t you agree?  Instead of the government stepping on us, we should be stepping on them.  Of course, this is the historical path of all governments.  Eliminating more and more freedoms, until the whole system is torn down.

Am I making too much out of a little thing???  Maybe.  But it looks like a bad omen to me.  And what’s up with the lack of coverage on the news?  It almost like the word has gone out:  Don’t mention it and maybe no one will notice.  Excuse me, but in my world, Wikipedia is more important than O.J.

Writing often calls for research.  All you writers out there should be paying attention.

Arguing with Word

Have you ever had an argument with a word processor?  Did you win?  Did you lose?  Never mind who was right and what inanimate object was wrong.  Being right doesn’t make you a winner.

The greatest mistake writers make with a computer’s dictionary and grammar check is assuming the machine is always right and they are always wrong–including me.  Most often this involves the spellchecker. The greatest mistake that I ever made was typing the word ‘nipple’ when I meant ‘nibble.’  Whop-Do-Whop!  The computer did not disagree.   Boy, was my face red.

Living in the 21st Century, Part Two

Pinging off the Smile Every Day blog by Imrod. 

You know you’re living in the 21st Century when:   

16.  You don’t worry about Date Night; you worry about hooking-up after your get to the club.

17.  You have no idea who’s living next door, until the state sends you a Sex Pervert Alert.

18.  You haven’t written a check since the last time you paid property tax.

19.  You have 3 trashcans:  one for garbage and two for recyclables.

20.  You’re online server sent you a warning about exceeding 150 megabytes.  Watching Netflix has caused your online server to penalize you for exceeding 150 GBs.  You will be charged and extra $10 for ever 50 GBs after.  You are now in the top 2% of online hogs.

21.  You suddenly realize YouTube is more entertaining than TV.

22.  You think anyone who is under 75 and still can’t operate a computer is an illiterate dumb wad.

23.  You’ve got more friends–that you don’t know–on Facebook than you do in real life.

24.  Your cat has an automatic litter box, and your dog’s name is a password.

25.  Gasoline is higher than your car payments.

I challenge everyone to write 5 more.  :)  Sideways smile/ Number 11. 

Let’s Do It Again

 

There’s an old southern saying.  ’Whatever you find yourself doing on New Year’s Day, you’re bound to repeat all year long.’  So find yourself something fun to do today………cm

Writing in Generalities–Bad, Bad, Bad

Below are two examples of the same post.  The first one is an example of bad writing.  Although the first is shorter, it is written in broad generalities with no hint of personality or flair.  These kind of general statements are so flat, boring and negative that the reader can barely tolerate to consume them.  It is generic.  Anyone could have written the first one.  A good writer does not want to sound generic.  Style is often referred to as the voice of the writer.  Some experts will tell you that the reader is not suppose to aware of the writer.  This is not true.  As we read we do come to know the writer.  We even begin to visualize them and their surroundings.

News Flash

Let me save you the trouble of reading the news today.  Or any day for that matter:

More trouble in the Middle East  .  .  .  Stock Market goes up and down  .  .  .   Congress can’t agree  .  .  .   Climate warming continues  .  .  .  Athlete fails drug test  .  .  .   Movie star makes a fool of himself   .  .  . Investors loose their shirts and pants on Ponzi scheme  .  .  .  Food prices dig deeper into the consumer pocket    .  .  .  Euro in deep shit  .  .  .  Company issues recall of product  .  .  .  Bookstore closes  .  .  .  Cell phone store opens  .  .  .  U.S. borrows more money from China  .  .  .  China needs U.S. to consume imported items  .  .  .    Rich get richer  .  .  .  Poor get poorer  .  .  .  Housing market slumps  .  .  .  Crazy dude kills family  .  .  .  Homeless need homes  .  .   .  Senator has girlfriend; wife shocked but supportive  .  .  .  Dog alerts family to fire  .  .  .  Store stick-up  .  .   .  Thieves steal copper  .  .  .  Americans are too fat  .  .  .  Teens can’t read, write, or multiply .  .  .  Fast food is bad  .  .  .  Smoking will kill ‘ya  .  .  .  Doctor accused of Medicare fraud  .  .  .  Divorce rate highest ever in history  .  .  .  Gas rates expect to rise during the holidays  .  .  .  Population down in developed countries by micro points and up in undeveloped countries  .  .  .  New driver runs off road  .  .  .  Trucker falls asleep at wheel  .  .  .  Airplanes are falling apart  .  .  .  Feds cut interest rate  .  .  .  Bank closes  .  .  .  Iraq wants U.S. troops to stay  .  .  .  Iraq wants U.S. troops out  .  .  .   Egypt doesn’t know what it wants  .  .  .  Everyone is afraid of Korea and Iran  .  .  .  Small businessman can’t sell as cheap as Wally World  .  .  .  Large scale farming is unsustainable, but home gardeners are still dorky  .  .  .   Someone semi-important said something nasty about someone very important; apology in the mail  .  .  .  Citizens wonder if freedom of the press means truth in the press  .  .  .  Electricity bill to increase by 3 percent  .  .  .  Postage stamps going up  .  .  .  Company downsizing employees; remaining workers to work twice as hard  .  .  .

And on the very, very local news:  My puppy peed on the floor.  What a surprise!!!

Moods and other Strange Things

Wait! I want'a check my Blog one more time.

At the beginning of last week or maybe even before that, a strange shadow crossed over my psyche.  Call it Blogging Malaise.  I had a couple of posts started but said, ‘Oh, never mind, I’ll just read.’

Many people try to analyze their moods, but I just ride them out.  I mean, ha-hum, I am an artist and woman, so who wants to wade into that quagmire???  Everything passes eventually.

Future of Books

Excerpt:  Read the entire article at   The Independent: 

…He adds: “If the bookshop lets you have both and has a product every bit as good as the Amazon one, why wouldn’t you do it with a bookshop?”

Daunt makes no bones about his dislike of Amazon. “They never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer’s interest. They’re a ruthless, money-making devil.” He dreads the physical bookshop disappearing altogether in the digital tsunami.

“The computer screen is a terrible environment in which to select books. All that ‘If you read this, you’ll like that’ – it’s a dismal way to recommend books. A physical bookshop in which you browse, see, hold, touch and feel books is the environment you want.”

As to the books-industry Cassandras who predict that publishers, agents and booksellers may all disappear in the next five years, “I wouldn’t bet against publishers,” he said. “The editorial process and the marketing – someone has to do it. I don’t think agents are the best people to do it.  Authors certainly aren’t – they need editing. I think either all three will survive or they’ll all disappear, swept away, replaced by one big fat Amazon, getting his way. And if the bookshops go, they will never come back.” His combative eyes glitter.

“So I have a responsibility.”

James Daunt: The CV 

***

ME:  I’ve got to admit that Mr. Daunt makes some good points.  There’s no denying that trying to write, edit, publish and market is too much for one person.  On the other hand–those publishing gates seem to be locked tight.

If the big boy publishers jump into the digital market, I think they’re going to have to expand their selections.  Most publishers only put out a certain genre by a few select writers.  I can’t really see them taking away from Amazon unless they broaden their horizons.

Maybe they could break into genres.  Say, one online spot being the place to go for romance, another being the place to go for sci-fi.

And they’ll have to offer lower prices than Amazon.  Personally, I think it’s outrageous to ask $10.00 for a digital book.  I mean, what’s the overhead on a digital book?  Granted, marketing will add to the price, but it’s still got to be cheaper than a dead tree book.  Right?

What do you think will happen???  I can’t think that it will help the Indie author one bit.