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Heck Yeah! Meeting Men on the Internet

December 2, 2010 by in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as , , , ,
I have been meeting a lot of men online lately and they all want one thing – to talk about books.

 

Not what you were expecting? Well, I gotta tell you this is a new experience for me, too. Not meeting men, of course. I’ve known a couple in my life, I just don’t remember them very well since I’ve been married like forever (think Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion and if you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and get thee right now to Netflix).

Since marrying I’ve also met some neat guys. They repair my car, my plumbing and take care of my yard.

What makes these new guys so amazing is that they are (get ready) readers of fiction. Before the internet, I didn’t believe they existed. I assumed all men were like my husband and read history (tons and tons of history) or magazines and newspapers and owner’s manuals. Of course, there were always the aberrations like the men who read Tom Clancy or David Morrell. But I’m a little suspect of those readers. I have it on good authority that the publisher lays down a thin layer of testosterone on each page during the printing process. That’s tantamount to carrying a ham hock in your pocket to make a dog love you.

The men I’m talking about read MY fiction – and I’m a woman author. I think my books are pretty thrilling considering I write legal thrillers. There’s always a good murder (and I’m talking really good). There are fight or flight scenes. There are sex scenes (okay, maybe not real sex scenes. My mom reads my books, after all. She loves a creative murder but sex? Not so much). There are bare-knuckled-intellectual smack downs in my fictional courtrooms that men would love. I could see how some of this would attract male readers but my books also feature women leads and emotional entanglements. I figured that took me and a whole lot of other authors off their radar.

The cool thing about all this is that these guys not only love to read fiction, they are like book mechanics now that I’m E-publishing. Not only do they point out a problem with a file, they happily help me fix it. I’m assuming they are happy to help since the dialogue between us continues over weeks and months and, in some cases, years. I know about their children and grandchildren, we swap travel stories and suggestions for good reads. I get a little jealous when they don’t add ‘but your work is so much better’ to their recommendations but I get over it.

So, here’s a big heck yeah! to all the guys who read fiction – my books and yours. Knowing they’re out there on the internet has sort of changed the way I write. Now I swipe a little more testosterone on those pages just to say thanks.

Rebecca Forster

As an advertising executive I marketed a world-class spa when it was still called a gym, did business in China before there were western toilettes and mucked around with sheep to find out how my client’s fine wool was made. Then I wrote my first book. . .visit me at http://www.rebeccaforster.com/



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How thankful are you? Thoughts on talking turkey from Isabel Swift

November 25, 2010 by in category From Isabel Swift tagged as ,
Thank you notes—the lack of them—was one of the key complaints about children in a recent conversation with a remarkably varied series of mothers I’d been speaking to.
Mommie Dearest aside, you don’t have to be an abusive parent to expect a child (or anyone) to respond to a gift with appreciation.  I wasn’t allowed to go out and play if I hadn’t finished my thank you notes for Christmas presents by the first week in January. While it was tedious, I really didn’t see it as an inappropriate expectation of my parents.  Now I send my thank you notes as Valentine cards—a little late, but decorative!
And when I got old enough to actually send presents, it became very clear how nice getting a note was—if only to reassure you that your gift was actually received!  With no response, one can spend months vacillating between resentment toward the recipient, concern that the package had been lost, and angst about whether one should contact the person & ask the embarrassing question:  
“Did you get the present I sent months ago?” 
“Oh, yeah.  Sorry!  I guess I should have said something…”  
Yeah.  That would have been nice.
Even as one mother was complaining of the effort she made to find her nephews and nieces things she thought they’d like and how ungrateful they were and unthanked she was, I was thinking of the presents I’d given her children for which I’d never gotten any thanks or acknowledgment. Funny how easy it is to notice failures in others and not in yourself, isn’t it? 
I asked her if she’d written thank you notes herself as a child.  She’d written some, but mentioned that her godmother used to give her beautiful treasures that she still cherished, but had never thanked her for.

Suddenly, after complaining about others, she realized she’d been just as guilty. She wondered if the statute of limitations had expired, but in my opinion thanks have no expiration date. You can send a thank you years later, and it will still be fresh—and possibly even more appreciated. Go for it. And she did.

In these days of endless communication options, there’s no excuse, but remarkably little activity.  And really, not much is required:  “Just got your lovely gift—thank you so much for thinking of me!” is really all that is needed.  Yes, it would be nice to reference the actual object & mention why it will be enjoyed (if indeed it is).  But details are not required, and neither are falsehoods.  
I believe in telling the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth.  So if you hate the gift for whatever reason, all you need to do is thank the giver for the kind thought.  Note, postcard, email, voice mail (hey, you can even call when you know they won’t be there!). 
It was interesting to note that this issue of lack of acknowledgement has been the subject of articles with business interviews as well.  
So just as we may wish for Christmas cheer to last beyond the holidays, it is worth asking…can you be thankful all year long?
Did you have to write thank you notes? Do you write them now? Did you raise your children to write thank you notes?
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Zoo Frolic and Detour

November 6, 2010 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , ,

I visited the Los Angeles Zoo yesterday. Why write about it here? Because I enjoyed it! And because I liked the break I took, short though it was, from my writing.

I met a deadline earlier this week, on November 1, for the manuscript for my third Alpha Force novel for Harlequin Nocturne, a miniseries about undercover shapeshifters in the military. I have another deadline on December 1 for a proposal, and I’ve started working on it. But some good friends just recently moved to Los Angeles, and they bought a membership to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.

My husband and I have been members of GLAZA since our kids were young. I used to go there walking a couple of times a week for exercise. I’ve taken a class on observing animals and participated in a couple of studies.

But that was a while ago. I hadn’t been to the zoo for a few years, even while maintaining my membership. I’ve missed it! I therefore jumped at the opportunity.

Things are different there now. The entrance and parking lot have changed. There are more places to buy food. A lot of new exhibits are in the works, including the new elephant habitat. But I could still pretty much find my way around. One of the animals that had been my friend years ago seemed to recognize me–although that could just have been wishful thinking. I saw some animal species that hadn’t been there before. Some of my favorite exhibits were closed due to some of the reconstruction going on. Even so, I had a great time, especially because I went with family and friends.

And then, when I got home, I sat back at my computer and jumped right into my writing, inspired by having allowed myself a frolic and detour before digging back in.

Anyone who knows me or reads my stories knows I love animals, so this was a natural course of action for me to take to get away. How about you–where do you go, or what do you do, when you have time for a break from your everyday life?

http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/

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A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow

October 28, 2010 by in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as ,

I would like to say that I have been writing and working on my new fantasy romance. That would be stretching things. I had planned on writing last Saturday because I had cleared everything that needed to be done. Then my youngest and his wife showed up. That ruined the rest of my plans. I ended up fixing the dinner and settling some other problems. Needless to say I got no writing done.

Life has been a bit upside down, so I don’t know how much writing I will be getting done. My day job that I have had for 12 years has gone bankrupt and we will be closing December 18 unless someone buys my boss out. That probably isn’t going to happen. It is really sad. I really like my job and will miss my babies (my students).

I have been teaching on line for the last three years and have found a second place to teach. Of course that means training for four weeks. It starts November 1 and goes into December because we get Thanksgiving week off. That will take the up any extra time I have because I still have to show up at work and teach my other classes. I figure the training won’t be that bad since it is basically the same thing I do now. The polices are a bit different, but the actual teaching is the same.

The good news is that Michael, my middle son, and his wife are having a baby, so I will finally be a grandmother in May. The baby is due around Mother’s Day so I figure I won’t be seeing them this year, but that is okay. I’m excited about being a grandma. Of course, I won’t be taking the baby around since I don’t carry too well, but I figure by the time the baby’s walking, I can get seatbelts installed on the walker so he or she doesn’t fall off.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving since this is my last blog until then.

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Learning from one of my favorite things–Isabel Swift

October 24, 2010 by in category From Isabel Swift tagged as ,

A visit by an avid tea drinker gave me the excuse to expound on my fondness for my Alfi.  In assessing my tea drinking habits, I realized there were many similarities with my romance reading habits! Like many romance readers (and tea drinkers), I have specific tastes, likes and dislikes. Some I can be quite intransigent about, others more open-minded.

I must note that I am a tea philistine. I like black tea, fairly dark, with a lot of milk and sugar. My needs and requirement are simple and unrefined. I just like the taste. I do not worry about whether the water is boiling, just under, or whatever temperature releases (or does not release) unattractive tannins. Whatever! For me the issue is simply: does the water turn dark enough and if I put a lot of milk in it, does it stay hot enough (but not too hot) to sip and enjoy immediately?

Like a baby gosling, I imprinted on Twining’s Earl Grey blend as my tea of choice, but I’ve been willing to branch out–Bigelow’s English Teatime, Twining’s Irish Breakfast & have even liked some loose teas: Red Blossom’s Keemun and their Hunan Black are in my cupboard.

So why do I think this Alfi is great? Well, in general, I make myself a pot in the morning & then drink it throughout the day. I used to have various tea cosies to fit various tea pots to try to keep it warm, etc. but by the third cup, I needed a microwave to warm it up. Yes, I have done it and lived to tell the tale. If you microwave with the milk in, you don’t have to do it as long & usually it tastes OK to me.

But this Alfi has an internal glass thermos with a sealed lid that opens and pours with a finger press. It keeps that pot of tea (without a stained tea cosy) beautifully hot and drinkable for a very long time. Here is one of my Alfis at home. It’s sitting on a tile my husband bought me when he went to the Taj Mahal. Nothing’s too good for my Alfi….

Alfi.jpg

As a romance reader, I connected, then expanded my reading in the genre in a similarly tentative manner–first Austen, then Regencies, then a fearful exploration into historicals and contemporaries when demand far exceeded supply.

Thinking about the visceral and physical aspects of tea helped me understand my (and perhaps other reader’s) reading process. Sometimes trying a new tea opens a whole new world–but if you’re conservative, it takes being forced to try something new in order to get you off the tried and true. For me with tea, it was being served a delicious new type at a restaurant. With reading, my reading world has been expanded by gift books, a friend’s vociferous recommendation, or a desperation buy when travelling….

A new format–tea bags, a thermal pot–opens up a new drinking experience and new opportunities. I think of audio books, eBooks, mobile and eReaders in that vein. And sometimes the issue is expectations: if I don’t think of this drink as tea, but open my mind and consider it just as a hot beverage–does it taste good? So for me, I’ve been able to explore Chai (a bit). And to connect the tea/reading experience, to enjoy urban fantasy and other relationship novels that include romance, but are not Romances.

What–and how–have your horizons been expanded?

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