e-maginings: Choosing an e-reader
August 16, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as e-books, e-maginings, e-readers, Kindle, Linda McLaughlin, Lyndi Lamont, nook, Sony readersAt the OCC meeting on Saturday, a friend asked me for advice on which e-readers to request from Santa. I jokingly said, “If Santa’s rich, ask for iPad. But if Santa isn’t, any of the e-ink readers should do nicely.”
Apple’s iPad, of course, is much more than a dedicated e-reader, and it’s quite a bit more costly. I’d sure love to have one, but I’ll wait. More companies are coming out with table computers and I’m figuring they’ll be cheaper than the iPad. (Sheesh, I had just published this post when I read an email about the Pandigital Novel, a “7-inch Color Multimedia eReader” which looks like an inexpensive iPad. It’s connected to B&N’s e-book store.) Apparently Bed, Bath and Beyond is carrying them, so I know where I’m going this week.)
At the moment, three companies dominate the dedicated e-book reader market: Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble. All make good devices, so how to decide which one is right for you? First, go look at them. I didn’t have that option when I bought my Kindle in December 2007. At the time, the only choice was the Kindle or the Sony reader and I chose the Kindle because I wanted the wireless delivery.
You can see and sample the nook at any Barnes & Noble bookstore. Last time I was in, I asked one of the sales clerks to show me and my husband how they work. He wanted to try out the internet browser function of the nook, but not being used to e-ink, he found it sluggish. That didn’t bother me, since I’ve been using a first-generation Kindle since 2007 and I know it takes a while for the little e-ink pixels to reorganize themselves into a new page. I have a couple of friends who have recently bought nooks and love it. If you want a reader that can also substitute as an internet browser, this is your best choice.
The Amzaon Kindle can be viewed at Target though the demos will be Kindle 2. The Kindle 3 has just been announced and Amazon is taking orders now for delivery in mid-September. The new Kindle offers a choice of wi-fi or wi-fi + 3G. If you buy a lot from Amazon anyway and don’t object to their proprietary format, this is a good choice. I have an Amazon Rewards card, so I can apply rewards certificates to e-books.
The Sony Readers can be seen at Target, Best Buy and Borders bookstores. If you can get into a Borders, you’ll get a better feel for the device as theirs seem to be fully functional, unlike the ones at Best Buy that flip between two advertising pages. I like the Sony Touch, with its touch screen and the ability to rotate the screen from portrait to landscape. I found it to have a more user-friendly interface than the nook, and this is currently my top contender for a new reading device. In addition to the company’s proprietary format BBeB, the Sony devices support PDF, ePub, MS Word and other text formats.
So how to choose one reader over the others? It depends somewhat on your reason for buying an e-reader and what you intend to do with it. One friend chose the Sony Touch over the Kindle because she wanted to be able to buy from the eHarlequin store instead of Amazon. She made a very wise choice for her.
Also think about whether or not you want a wi-fi or 3G (cell phone) connection. If not, you can probably save Santa a few bucks. But I warn you, once you’re tried a reader with the 3G connection, you’ll be hooked. I love that feature on my Kindle and I’ve updated my blogs and even bought books while riding in the car. But if you don’t mind transferring files the old-fashioned way, via USB cable, then look at the Sony models.
There are other e-book readers on the market: COOL-ER, the JetBook, and the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader, sold at Micro-Center. I don’t have any hand-on experience with these devices, so I won’t make any recommendations.
Which e-book reader do you recommend?
Linda McLaughlin
w/a Lyndi Lamont
Something Cool: 5 Tips to Keep Cool while writing Hot Romantic Scenes by Jina Bacarr
August 11, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as brook, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, cool, hot, icebreakers, romance heroes, romantic scenes, writing
Unlike my heroine, Breezy Malone, in Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs, who’s been known to cool off on her job as a federal agent interrogating Russian spies with an ice cube placed in strategic places, I find the soothing sounds of water running in a brook keep me cool while I’m writing hot romantic scenes.
So as summer winds down and we’re all trying to figure out how to keep cool as the temperature goes up, way up, here are my 5 tips to keeping cool:
1. Keep the décor in your work area simple, selecting “cool†tones such as green, blue, or lavender. Avoid hot direct overhead lighting, use natural light whenever possible.
2. Cool fans. Not just the electric “blowing in your face†kind, but hand fans at your fingertips when you want to feel a cool breeze. Have some fun and paste photos of sexy hunks on the each side and fan away.
3. Create an illusion of coolness by diverting your senses. Hang wind chimes or Chinese lanterns where they will catch a breeze. Add beaded curtains in your doorway that move gently in the breeze. Then put on a sarong and write barefoot.
4. Tall, cool drinks. Make ice-cubes out of your favorite beverage (juice, cola, sports drinks), then toss the ice cubes into a tall glass of unflavored sparkling water. Add a sprig of mint. Spoon sorbet into ice-frosted glass bowls and enjoy!
5. Cool, running water soothes the senses and conjures up scenes of a man and a woman kissing passionately in the surf as foamy waves rush around them. Sounds delish…but if you don’t happen to have a running brook nearby, here is a short video of running water in a brook.
How hot the scenes are that you write while you’ll listening to the sounds of the running brook is up to you.
Best,
Jina
The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.â€
Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs
visit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/
A Filter For Your Writing Well by Kitty Bucholtz
August 9, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as It's Worth ItI had a bad week last month. I got a couple of my final school papers in the mail and I wasn’t pleased with my grades nor all the comments from my teachers. I thought I’d done a lot better than I had. (If you didn’t know, I’m getting my Master of Arts in Creative Writing degree at UTS in Sydney.) Like so many things in life, I didn’t fully understand what had so upset me until a few days after my mini-meltdown.
The shortest explanation is one a friend had to remind me of – the last year and a half has seen a lot of huge changes in my life. Regardless of the fact that I wanted most of those changes (moving around the world, going back to school), they still take a physical and emotional toll. Add in some short-term good things (company from America) and some short-term irritations (accountant needed more tax info from me that I had to find), and I found myself getting angry to one degree or another regularly, finally losing it when I received my school papers.
The reason I didn’t recognize what was happening is that it was all on the inside. I’d get mad about something, vent, and move on to the next thing. I’d get frustrated, take some deep breaths and push through. Then I’d get down about something (grades) and find myself unable to get up again. Because I was focused on trying to push through, to be strong and keep plugging along, I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening on the inside until I couldn’t get out of bed one day.
The day that happened I knew I had some serious thinking to do. It finally occurred to me that I was low-level angry at all kinds of things a lot of the time. In the stress of my first semester of grad school, I’d let my interior monitor get out of sync. By the end of the semester, I couldn’t even tell I was stressed about anything. But that morning in bed I realized I’d stopped making a conscious choice about how I wanted to react to the situations around me. I’d gotten into the habit of letting myself feel frustrated at every opportunity, at the world, at others, and at myself.
So for the last week, I’ve been practicing choosing not to be angry, frustrated, or depressed about things. It’s amazing how many opportunities there were for practice! 
But my interior monitor is getting re-synced. I’m getting better at reading myself again, and knowing when something needs to give, or change, or be left behind.
I was at a friend’s house who has a reverse-osmosis filter at her kitchen sink. She reminded me to fill my water glass using the filtered water rather than the regular tap water. The parallel between the water and my bad week was instantaneous. She needed a filter so that the water coming through her old pipes would not bring up all the rust and other deposits into the glass.
We need the same kind of filter when we are writing. We need something that purifies the water coming up out of our inner well. For many of us, that filter is the joy of writing. But that filter needs to be cleaned regularly or it stops working as well. I’m trying to shine up my joy-of-writing filter every time I sit down to write now. I picture myself writing happily on my book, and I let that image seep into me until I can feel myself smiling over how much I’ll enjoy it. Then I start writing.
Like with any other rejection, I gave myself 24-48 hours to get over the sting of those first semester grades. Then I went back to work on my book, knowing that I understand my target market and believing that I’m doing a good job even if my academic acquaintances only half-agree.
If you haven’t done so lately, take a minute and check your interior monitor. Do you need to take a break? Do you need a cleaner writing filter? Or is your writing well clean and full of fresh ideas? I think I’m going to try to add this to my monthly or quarterly routines.
Kitty Bucholtz is the co-founder of Routines for Writers, a web site dedicated to helping writers write more. She writes romance novels, light urban fantasy novels for adults and young adults, and magazine articles. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Creative Writing program at University of Technology, Sydney.
2 0 Read moreA Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow
July 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives
Starting a new fantasy book always takes awhile with trying to set up the new universe. In my alternate universe story, there are several major issues to take care of such as what magical properties are in the new universe.
One of the problems I have had was trying to figure out what the evil wizard wanted. After multiple trips to plot group, lunch at an OCC meeting and discussing it with my critique partner, I still didn’t know what he wanted. I knew I wanted him to be killing people, but why? What was he getting out of it?
Then I got stuck with my son Rob in the drive-through at KFC, which is not an uncommon occurrence. He plays many different role-playing games and often has great ideas. We were discussing what the wizard wanted and I knew it had something to do with a crystal.
So the legend of the great crystal was born. A thousand years ago, there was a magic crystal that was so powerful, that someone found a way to crack it because the holder of the crystal held enormous magical power and could control everyone around him. The crystal has been hidden for years and most think it is but a legend. However, the wizard has found the crystal and now is trying to find a way to heal it. Certain energy, taken from living beings, can heal the crystal. Those energies are not found in the wizard’s world, the magical world. He has tried and the energy he has taken does nothing to the crystal.
Therefore he has to venture into another universe. There he finds people who have the correct energy. Taking the energy kills the person. He stores it in small crystals, then returns to his own universe where he uses the energy to heal the large crystal.
Pax, the hero, is chasing the wizard when the wizard returns to his own universe and pulls Pax with him and there starts the story.
On a person note, Rob is going to be a father in February.
0 0 Read more“Understanding Men” with Dr. Debra Holland
July 26, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives********** permission to forward **********
Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!
“Understanding Men”
with Dr Debra Holland
August 16 – September 18, 2010
Do you wish you had a better understanding of men? Now is your chance to improve your real-life relationships with men and enhance your male characters all through taking the same course.
Extended to include an extra week of information and lectures, during this five-week class you will learn how the male brain and hormones make a man think, feel, and behave, especially in relationships. New material will cover male sexuality and how that affects responses, attitudes, and behavior. We will also discuss how men are portrayed in romance novels versus how men are in real life.
About the Instructor:
Debra Holland, PhD is a popular psychotherapist, consultant, and speaker on the topics of communication skills, relationships, stress and trauma, and dealing with difficult people. In this class, Dr. Debra expands on the workshop she has given at the 2001 National RWA Conference and around the country at various RWA chapters and conferences. Just this year, she has added a new segment covering the anatomy and physiology of male sexuality, as well as male sexual responses, attitudes, and behavior.
Although geared to writers, non-writers will also find the class helpful in improving their relationships with men.
As a multi-faceted author, Debra’s first historical romance, Wild Montana Sky, won the 2001 Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart award. Subsequent books in the series, Wild Montana Sky and Starry Montana Sky both earned finalist honors in the OCCRWA Orange Rose contest. Her fantasy romance, Withea’s Way (retitled Sower of Dreams) was a 2003 Golden Heart finalist. Her science fiction/fantasy novel, Lywin’s Quest, was a 2005 GH finalist.
In 2008, she sold a nonfiction book, Back On Track, to Transformations, and is currently finishing a book on boundary setting with difficult people. Her column, “Ask Dr. Debra†can be found on her website: www.drdebraholland.com
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassAug10.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Coming in September 2010–
“Creating that Fatal (or Not So Fatal) Flawâ€
with Laurie Schnebly Campbell
September 6 – October 2, 2010
Giving likable, plausible characters a truly compelling conflict is easier with Enneagrams. Counselors and HR managers use this tool to identify the nine distinctive personality types. Each one has its own uniquely heroic and appealing traits, as well as a troublesome (if not fatal) flaw that will naturally bring them into conflict with other people…AND with themselves.
Laurie Schnebly Campbell draws on her background as a counseling therapist AND as a romance novelist who beat out Nora Roberts for Best Special Edition of the Year to help you find out which strengths and weaknesses will make your characters’ lives more rewarding as they reach their happily-ever-after, and more challenging along the way!
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html . Check out our full list of workshops.
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure
you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at
the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank
email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
BEYOND THE FORTUNETELLER’S TENT
When Petra Baron goes into the fortuneteller’s tent at a Renaissance fair, she expects to leave with a date to the prom.
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