Day 8: A Book I Love and One I Don't

This prompt is really unfair for a bibliophile. Seriously, books? Love 'em. Almost all of them, anyway. I read, on average, 125 books per year, so there are a lot of books I love.

There's Robert McCammon's Swan Song, which I've so many times that I wore the binding out. I used cloth athletic tape to hold the book together until the pages started falling out. It was out of print for several years, so I couldn't even replace it. Finally, Amazon turned up a copy. Now you can find copies anywhere, but I really hate the new cover.

In the same vein, I really love Stephen King's The Stand (unabridged version). There have been accusations of one author ripping off the other, since they're both post-apocalyptic novels with good and evil battling it out. I don't see it. Yes, there are similarities, but that's pretty much the formula of the genre.

As for a book I don't love, there is one, written by a distant family member. It's a truly awful book, with poor writing, lousy editing, and even worse formatting. Under Amazon's new self-publishing rules, her book would have been pulled due to errors. If it wasn't for vanity publishing, this book would have never made it to market. I'm not knocking self-publishing, which in my mind is a totally different critter. I'm specifically talking about those publishing houses that you PAY to publish your books. I'm certain this particular distant family member probably paid at least $5,000 to get her book published.

WPA-bound

You know, for a writer, I don't get much writing done. I always have grand intentions of breaking out the computer when I get home from work, but it rarely happens.

I am currently revising TALES FROM THE TRAIL, adding about ten stories, including Estes' final chapter. It should have been included in the first edition, but her death was too raw and I'm just now ready to write about it.

The second book in the LYON'S ROAR series in flitting around in my brain. I even have the first chapter written, but it scares me a bit, so I'm finding it difficult to move forward. Next week, I'll be headed to Wisconsin to the Writers' Police Academy - a move I hope will help light the fire under my butt to sit down and get the next book out.

It was at the 2010 WPA that I learned the method by which Faceless Bad Guy used to enter Stacy Lyon's house. Each year, the WPA gets bigger and better, so I have no doubt I will return full of ideas that will appear in future books.

I leave on the 20th bright and early and return bright and early on the 23rd. The only decent price I could get back was at the butt-crack of dawn, so I'm going to miss the debrief on Sunday, but I'll have two and a half days of learning under my belt by then. (And I'll be back in time to see the premier of Fear the Walking Dead!)

I am pretty bad at posting to Twitter (@CSWilson_Author), but I'm going to work on it while at WPA. If you want to follow along with me and the other 299 authors who will be attending, watch #2015WPA for updates.

I'll also be posting cool things on Instagram (AuthorCSWilson), and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AuthorCSWilson), so if you think about it, jump on over to follow along.

Publishing Has Killed My NaNoWriMo Mojo!

Here it is, twenty-two days into NaNoWriMo and I've barely broken 7,500 words.  In the five (or six) years I've been participating, I've never struggled like I am this year and I blame the fact that I finally published my books.  I've resigned myself to the fact that I am not going to "win" NaNo this year, and that's okay as long as I get useable words out of my effort.

No longer can I just "vomit" words onto a page and feel okay about it.  Editing sucks.  Taking all those crappy words I threw up onto the page and trying to make something useful out of them is one of my least favorite chores.  Now that I know this, I'm struggling with putting the "right" words down the first time.  I understand why Tara Janzen says that writing is "excruciating" and "that it's like placing individual pieces of glitter with tweezers".

I find that I have to know where the story is going, whereas in the past I didn't care.  I find myself thinking things like, "will this tie into what is going to happen in chapter so-and-so?".  Or, "is this even believable?".  Things that never once crossed my mind in NaNos past.

And you know what?  I miss the free writing.  I do.  I just want to be able to shut off the "inner editor".  Now, just as soon as I figure that out, I'll let you know.

I'm currently working on two books: LYON'S RAGE and  PICEANCE BASIN PRINCESS.  My thought was that when I hit a wall with one, I'd switch to the other.  It worked beautifully for a couple thousand words.

LYON'S RAGE is a book, still early in Stacy's career as a Protection Specialist.  Her recent past comes back to haunt her when a potential client tries to hire her to kill his spouse. 

PICEANCE BASIN PRINCESS is Skeeter's story, how she came into my life after losing Her Highness.  It's not going to be a sappy, oh-she-saved-my-life story, because I honestly hate those stories.  It's more the reality side of things.  Yes, I loved Queen Estes and yes, I love Princess Skeeter, but it's hard work to keep from comparing the two.  It's more of a "she's different from Estes and I still love her" kind of story.

If I finish the month with a good start on both of these, I'll feel really good. I've taken vacation time over Christmas break, so I plan on continuing to write. I'd like to have RAGE in a publishable state by June 2015, and the other by the end of the summer. 

Braggin'

Jay's been working on a children's book for a while now.  He started his illustrations on paper and it took him days to complete just one panel.

A year or so ago, he changed from paper to computer and began "drawing" his illustrations on the computer.

Today, he finished his book.  Completely.  All illustrations and text are complete.  The cover is complete.  It's beautiful.

Now, the hard work begins...to shop it around and find a publisher.

I'm super proud of him; this wasn't an easy task to complete.

Green Squiggly Line

We all know that in Word, the red squiggly line means you spelled something wrong.

The green squiggly line means there's a grammatical error.

A cool bonus about the green squiggly line is that if there is an incorrect word used, it typically leads to a grammatical error, which means the green squiggly line will appear.  Cool, huh?

Authors should take note.

Their editors should take note.

I told you that so I can tell you this...

Authors - don't use your friends/family as editors.  Stop being cheap and hire a proper editor.  One who can spell AND who knows the rules of grammar AND who knows what homophones are.

I started reading a book yesterday that I'm enjoying. However, the author doesn't know the difference between site (location) and sight (to see).  Nor does she know the difference between roll (the action) and role (a part played by a performer).  Apparently, neither does her editor.

To recap:

• site = place/location
• sight = to see
• roll = an action (or a very yummy hunk of bread)
• role = a part played by a performer or a character

When I was bitching whining about this to my parents, my mom came up with the homophones that make her homicidal:

• rein = steering device for equines
• rain = the wet stuff that falls from the sky
• mane = the long neck hair on equines
• main = chief or primary

At least I come by my word snobbery honestly.

Which words are used incorrectly that make you twitchy?

Reading

I love to read, probably everyone knows that.  Last week, one of my fellow WriMos revealed that she had read 38 books last year and I got to wondering...just how many books to I read in a year?

I know that since Jay gave me Eloise, I read more than I did in the past.

So I started a new page to list the books I'm reading, just to keep track.  If you want to see what I'm reading or how it's going, just click the page button at the top of the page.  I know a lot of people are on Goodreads (so am I, but under the real me, not the GunDiva me), but I thought listing my books here would be easiest.

On my Books page, I'll include either a link to the book or the author's website.  You can reasonably assume that any book I post on the page is an ebook, unless otherwise noted.

Since this is the last week of Christmas break, I've been reading up a storm. Like a crazy amount of reading. That's about to come to an abrupt halt tomorrow when I return to work. I will have to read a textbook as I re-do our curricula, so that will cut into my fun reading a bit.

I'll also note if I don't finish a book.  I find that as I get older, I have less tolerance for books I don't enjoy.  Sometimes I'm just not in the right mindset for that specific genre, sometimes I wonder how the hell a book ever got published, and in the case of some self-pubbed books, I'm certain that some authors' mommies and daddies went way overboard heaping praise on their precious little ones' lack of writing abilities.

What are you guys reading?  Have any suggestions?  I've got a fourteen-hour car ride coming up next week and will want Eloise fully loaded before the trip.

SAVING SCOTT by Terry Odell

This morning, I finally made far enough down my TBR pile to read Terry Odell's SAVING SCOTT.  I've had it in my TBR for a while and after reading it, wondered how on earth it could have gotten so buried in the rest of my reading.  I "met" Terry through her blog and then got to meet her and her husband in person at the Writers' Police Academy a couple of years ago.

So, sorry Terry it's taken me so long to get to your book(s).  SAVING SCOTT was amazing and I devoured it in one sitting.

But...today's post isn't really about the book, but about something I found in the book. Terry's main character, Ashley, is fixing to open a bakery so she bakes throughout the entire book.  In one scene she's making a chocolate cookie with cayenne pepper in it.  Yep, cayenne pepper.  In a chocolate cookie.  Sounded intriguing.

Even cooler, when I reached the end of the book, Terry had included the recipe for the amazing-sounding Spicy Aztec Chocolate Drops.  Yes, she did.

And I had to make them.  Well, me and Nebalee with some help from Kyzzer and Asset.

Butter and sugar

The dry ingredients, including cayenne

Starting to come together

Asset rolling the cookies in sugar

Kyzzer did about three cookies to Asset's one

Finished!

The cookies were even more amazing than I thought they would be.  I can't even adequately explain the deliciousness that is this cookie.  Moist chocolate drops with just a touch of heat in the back of your throat to finish.  Especially perfect with a tall glass of cold milk.  I'm fairly certain I ate most of a dozen.

Definitely worth a try.  Click on over to Terry's Place to get the recipe.  And while you're at it, click on the link for the book and buy that, too.  There are a whole lot more recipes at the end of the book that I might or might not try.  And the story's pretty darn good, too.

Want Free Books?

Real, paper books, that is.

I just signed on as a review for Blogging for Books.  It's a breeze to sign up.  I will get to choose a book a book, they'll ship it to me for free, and I write a review.  I can't wait to try it out - you all know how much I love to read.  If you're interested in doing book reviews, click the link and sign up (no, I'm not getting anything for recruiting - I just love free things).

Nook Deals has a whole post on how to get free books for review.  Click on over there for more details on getting free reads.

Thank you Dorothy!

On my way to Las Vegas last week, I was sitting on the plane, reading Eloise, waiting for everyone else to get their butts in their seats so we could get going already.  While everyone was still getting settled, the flight attendant, Dorothy, saw my nook and asked how I liked it.  She'd just gotten the nookcolor the night before and loves it, but she had owned the original nook for a long time and had no intention of giving up either.  We talked books for a little bit and she offered to write down a list of websites where I could find free or low-cost nookbooks.

I thanked her, but expected that she'd forget before the flight was over since she was - you know - working.  As we got ready to land, she handed me a slip of paper with the following sites on them and apologized for not being more thorough (she gave me a list of 11 sites and she was afraid she wasn't thorough?).

Since I don't want to be stingy right before Christmas, I thought I'd share with you.  So here goes (I didn't list the sites that weren't intuitive to use or that were clumsy):

• nook Deals - I visited today and picked up three or four new free nookbooks from B&N.  What's amazing to me is that this site has 40,000+ page views, but only 60 followers (61 including me).  Lots of great links from this site, and most of the books she's got listed (I'm assuming it's a she, I can't find "about me") are straight from the B&N website.
• Inkmesh - Inkmesh has links for all e-readers; Kindle, nook, Sony ebooks, etc.
• Smashwords - I've linked directly to the free books.  This is a good site to visit if you want to try new authors.  Terry Odell, a blog friend and WPA attendee, uses Smashwords to give little gifts to her readers.  Go check it out - her book is free through today.  Then be sure to stop by her blog and tell her thanks for sharing her books with us.
• Feedbooks - You have to join this site, but it's simple to do.  It has a place to publish your own books and find new authors, similar to Smashwords.
• Fictionwise - "Fictionwise.com is committed to providing the Internet's most comprehensive collection of fiction (and yes nonfiction too!) in the most popular eBook formats."  It's also owned by B&N, so I would assume the books are compatable with the nook.
• eBooks - Requires an account to be set up, and I couldn't find a link for free nookbooks, but they do have a very comprehensive list of books/authors and the prices don't seem to be too bad.
• kobo - Finally back to the free books!  You can also link to kobo from nook Deals.  There are some tutorial videos to show you how to use kobo, which I found helpful.
• FictFact - This site and I are going to be good friends.  I love reading series books, but often can't remember which is the next book in the series or can't remember when the new book in the series is due out.  Well, just register with FictFact and they'll keep track of all of that for you!
• Barnes & Noble - I thought I should mention this site for a couple of reasons. 1) If you want an ereader, but can't afford one, you can download one for your PC for free from B&N.  Click on "nook" from the home page and then click on "nook for PC".  nook for SmartPhones is also available on the B&N website. 2) Most of the free books that are compatible with the nook are from the B&N website, but there are literally thousands of them and I don't want to wade through them all, so I'll be checking out nook Deals instead.

Does anyone else have any great places where they find their ebooks?  What are your feelings on e-readers?  I love Eloise and I love "real" books - they'll never be completely out of my life.  I know a lot of people who think it's one or the other, but that's just not true for me.  I love the feel and smell of books.  There's nothing like walking into a bookstore and brousing through all of the titles.  But I also love the convenience of Eloise; I no longer have to load up my carry-on with a million books when I travel.

Book Review: PARAFAITH WAR

A while ago, K over at Preachers and Horse Thieves won one of my book give-aways and reciprocated by sending me not one, but two, books.  The first review can be found here.

First, a disclaimer.  K is like that super-smart friend whose IQ is light years greater than mine.  You know the kind?  I was by no means a dumb kid in high school, but I always managed to surround myself with people so smart that it made my head hurt.  Guess I was hoping some of their smarts would rub off on me.  When K asked me what type of books I liked to read, I flippantly answered, "ones with words."  You know, you shouldn't say things like that to someone like K.  What does he come up with?  A hard-core sci-fi for me to read.

Now, I read approximately 1,100 wpm.  Usually. 

I can burn through a book in just a couple of days (another reason I love Eloise - when I run out of books, I just download a new one).  Usually.

I gotta tell you, PARAFAITH WAR by L.E. Modesitt kicked my book-lovin' ass.  I enjoyed it, but my speed reading slowed to a crawl.  Heck with 1,100 wpm, I was lucky to get 11 wpm.  It took me two weeks (or more) to finish the book - the only time that happens is when I'm reading an eight- or nine-hundred page book.  This was not an eight- or nine-hundred page book.

It took me a while to get into the book, simply because I wasn't familiar with the vocabulary and I had to make the transition from "my" world to that of Modesitt's.  Once I was able to make the switch in my head and got comfortable with the vocabulary, I really enjoyed the book and looked forward to bedtime so that I could stretch out on my belly and read my ten or twelve pages before my brain started cramping up from thinking so much.

The book is about a turf war, essentially, between two cultures of differing faith (sound familiar?).  One culture is busy planoforming and defending themselves, while the other culture is busy over-populating their world(s) and attacking the planoformed worlds for growth.  Like most wars, this one has dragged on for years and is pointless.  War is just what they do; both cultures have been at it for so long that they've forgotten the reason.

The book follows Trystin Desoll's military career from a border guard to an intelligence agent for an interested third-party.  As he grows in his military career, and with help from the third-party, he starts thinking a little more than an average grunt should and creatively comes up with a way to end the senseless war.

Yes, I've far over-simplified the gist of the book, but that's about it.  It was a good read that flexed my thinkin' muscle, and I enjoyed it, but I think I'm going to leave sci-fi to my smart friend, K.

Thanks, though, K for helping me try out a new genre.

Book Review: NIGHT WATCH by Terry Pratchett

So, in return for winning a book in my Tara Janzen give-away, K. Erickson of Preachers and Horse Thieves suprised me with a couple of his favorite books.

After I slogged my way through (mostly, anyway) FINDING CHARLOTTE, I picked up NIGHT WATCH enthusiastically.  It's not a book that I would have picked for myself - I'm not a big fantasy fan; this world's screwed up enough, why would I want to read about other screwed up worlds?

I actually stopped to look at the page number to see at which point I was totally engrossed and knew I was going to finish the book.  *Drum roll, please* Page sixteen.  In all honestly, I was hooked long before then, but it took me 'til page sixteen to drag my eyes away from the text to look at the number.  Quite a change from the prior book.

I know nothing about the author, Terry Pratchett, I wouldn't have even know how to describe his writing style, so I looked for a little help from the professional reviewers who call him a "comic novelist" and a "master of laugh-out-loud fiction".

The premise of the book is that Sam Vimes, while chasing a bad guy (a really, really bad guy), is caught in some sort of time storm and transported back in time thirty years, along with the bad guy.  He has a chance to make history turn out the "right" way and in the process, meets his younger self at a crucial point in his younger self's life.

I can tell you that this book could have been a disaster, what with traveling back in time and all, but it was masterfully written.  It's not easy to write a book without all of the time-twisting, but to be able to do it as believably as Mr. Pratchett did makes the book a work of art.

I can tell you that I will be ready many more of Mr. Pratchett's book and soon.  Thank you, K. for introducing me to a whole new genre and author.

Friends of the Loveland Library Book Sale

I love this book sale - especially the last day.  The prices are good on the first day, $1.00 - $2.50 per book for teen and adult books.  If you're looking for specific books, the first day is the day you want to attend.

But it's the "Bag Day" that you get the best deals!  Bag Day is the last day of the sale and for $4.00 you get all of the books you can stuff into a plastic grocery bag.  Since I'm an experienced bag stuffer, I actually got charged $5.00 for two of my bags, but I can't complain, it's still an amazing deal.  Jay and I met his parents and siblings there - they were book sale virgins, but quickly got into the spirit.  I'm hoping that they felt like they got a good deal, because I know that Jay and I did.  We went under the guise of picking up books for my parents' B&B, Allenspark Lodge, but I knew I'd come out with plenty of reading material for myself.

For a mere $26.00 we came home with 105 paperbacks and 14 hardbacks.  Yeah, that works out to twenty cents a book.  How do you beat that?  I don't even care that I accidentally picked up two duplicates in the heat of the moment - I'll just send my dupes to Deejo in Arizona when Mom heads down there in a couple of weeks.  Over sixty of the books are for the lodge; the remaining books are in my TBR pile.  I'm not quite sure when I'll have time to read them, with NaNo coming up, but I'm sure I'll find time in the next year or so to get them read.

For those prices, it's a great way to find new authors.  If I buy a book and hate it, I'm only out twenty cents.  Big deal.  But if I find a new author, I'm even happier.  This is the time of year that I try to step outside my genre boundries and try new things.  After all, it's basically only costing me my time.