Geek Food

Every time I use the term “Geek Food” (also known as “Gamer Food”), I get laughs. But that seriously should be a more widely recognized category – and that is the reason for my blog post. I’ve asked several people if they actually know what geek food is, but very few people know if they aren’t geeks themselves. Let me break it down.

Geek food – eh-hem – is food that does not get your fingers greasy, goopy, cheesy, sticky, or crummy. It is food that is easily consumed and in no way will harm the electronic devices that are generally such a large part of our lives.

Food like M&Ms, Hershey’s Pieces, Reese’s Pieces, and the Pizza and PB&J flavored Gamer Grub are all good examples of geek food – and to be honest, all I can come up with at the top of my mind.

Are you a gamer/geek? What’s your favorite geek food?

“If every beginning had an end,

we would have found the end of the internet by now.”

To Be or Not to Be?

A few weeks ago, I went to see The Hunger Games in theatres, I thought it was great, so naturally, I started reading the series and is now my new obsession. I just finished reading The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and started reading The Mockingjay. I’m fond of both the books and the movie because the storyline is like nothing I’ve read before. Sure, there are plenty of post-apocalyptical novels around, but unlike the others, this one didn’t have an aliens and what-not. It’s utterly realistic and believable – and that thoroughly appeals to me.

If you’ve read or seen The Hunger Games you know it’s all about life and death… or in other words: war. *SPOILER, HIGHLIGHT TO READ* –> As I was reading, it was obvious that Katniss Everdeen wasn’t going to die because she’s the main character, but all of the other characters are up in the air. It was simultaneously comforting and annoying. <- So I got to thinking with my author mind: What if the main character died at the end of the book? Or the middle of the book? It’s very, very rare to find a fictional book where the main character dies at the end.

My question to you is: Would you keep reading a book if the character died at the end? Would you prefer the character to die at the end? Would you prefer they live? Does it depend on the book?

Different Types of Criticism: Post-Publication

A few weeks ago, I explained the different types of criticism you’ll run across as a writer pre-publication. Today, I’m explaining what you’ll face after publishing. I’m going to break it down a differently than I did last time, as you still receive bad and good criticism, I just want to elaborate on how to deal with it, and also the different kinds of places you’ll deal with it.

Post-Publication -

This is when the book has been published and is available either as an eBook, Audiobook, or Print book – after rounds of editing has been complete and it’s up for sale everywhere.

Reviews -

Bad Reviews: You’ll probably receive negative reviews from professional reviewers, unskilled readers, and everything in between. The absolute most important thing to remember post-publication is to not comment. Don’t comment on it at all. You’ll just make yourself look bad.

If you receive the review from a friend, co-worker, or just someone who has done the review for you and they are speaking directly with you via email or some other form of communication, thank them for their honest opinion. No matter what they’ve said or done or how bad the review – thank them.

Good Reviews: Pretty much the same rules apply no matter if the review is good or bad. Indirect review (i.e. Amazon or Goodreads review section, etc.) – don’t comment. Direct review – give thanks.

Regardless of if the readers liked the book or are just slandering your work or name (which doesn’t happen all that often), they put time into reading it and should be thanked for their time.

In Person – So let’s say we’re at a book signing or some other public event and a person who has read your book comes up to you.

Bad critic: They say it was a bad book or they didn’t enjoy it (I’ve only ever heard about this happening once, never experienced it myself, so it’s a rarity). Since it’s face-to-face you can’t actually ignore them… well, you could, but it would be almost as rude as saying something you might regret later. Just bite your tongue and say “I’m sorry” or “I’ll take that into consideration” or something to that effect.

Good critic: They say they enjoyed reading your work or similarly something positive. Thank them. Thank them for reading. Maybe even feel free to tell them about some of your other books.

You can begin to see a bit of a pattern in how to deal with things. If you’re a new writer, you can save these rules and use it as a cheat sheet that way you can stop and take a breath the next time you’re faced with criticism.

The Different Kinds of Criticism: Pre-Publication

When you’re an author, you’ll be getting plenty of criticism at every stage in writing. For a lot of aspiring authors, that’s a big part of what’s holding them back from getting their work off the back burner and out in the world. To cut to the chase, there are two main areas of criticism with books, and I’m going to explain them, and how to deal with them. This week, I’m going to explore pre-publication and in the next two weeks, I’m going to explore post-publication.

Pre-Publication -
This is when the book is freshly written and you might post it somewhere online for feedback (places like writing.com) or a writing group.

Bad Criticism: This is where people comment saying things like “This is bad. This is wonderful! I don’t like it. The characters are weak. The plot is choppy. The descriptions are wonderful!”
Why is it bad? It isn’t a helpful comment. It doesn’t point out what exactly it is that makes the character weak or why they think the plot is choppy. I’ve seen the “why” missing very often in a lot of criticisms, and good or bad, it just doesn’t give you anything to go on or prove that they even read your work.
How to deal with it: There are two different ways to deal with this, first, you can ask the commenter to elaborate on the “whys”. Secondly, you can just ignore it. Usually, if it’s a trusted commenter in my writing group, I’ll ask them to elaborate. If it’s a commenter online, I’ll probably just ignore it.

Good Criticism: Also called “constructive criticism”. This is where, good or bad, you have information about what you did right – and why – and what you did wrong – and why. "
“The character was weak because of all of the “telling” in the work, and also, you use a lot of crutch words.” This is the bare minimum for a good criticism.
Why is it good? It tells what’s wrong and gives you an idea of how you might fix it. It also is clear that the commenter is familiar with what they’re talking about, making them a valid source.
How to deal with it: This might sound like a no-brainer at first, but it’s a little more complex than how to deal with bad criticism. First of all, it’s a rule for me to not apply what I’ve learned with the new criticism unless I strongly agree with it or at least one other commenter says the same. This is because everyone has their own opinions, but if more than one person says that same, it’s more likely that others will also agree. So you may hold off on applying it to your work.
In terms of what you’re doing right, it will probably be a good idea to take note for future reference. It can be helpful in revisions and in your future writings to know what to add more of and what to do minimally.
Constructive criticisms can help you to learn about your habits, your weaknesses, and your strength. They’re really a necessary part of the writing process and – new writers especially keep in mind – NOT a bashing of your work. If you understand what kind of criticism you’re getting, then you’re better equipped to handle it.
Lastly, I would like to make sure you never bash someone for commenting on your work whether it’s good or bad criticism you’ve received, or even just an outright bashing. Never. Ever. Make a big deal of it. Best thing to do is ignore it.
Good luck in your writings! Any questions, leave them in the comments.

Books Everywhere!

Last year, my books weren’t a large focus for me. However, I my spare moments planning out the books I have swirling around in my mind, but I didn’t actually get to do much writing or taking action. I was able to participate in a wonderful event at my local zoo – Summer Safari Nights. I hope to be able to do the same this upcoming summer. And other events as well.
This year, I have a lot in the works as far as new novels go. Besides for the anthologies, you haven’t seen anything from me since 2009, which has been way too long. But this year, we’re looking at the release of Howl. It will be released exclusively on March 12th and I’ll be signing off the first copies at the Tucson Festival of Books.

Howl is part of what has kept me so busy! After I begin this semester at college, there’s no doubt I’ll be busier, so I’m attempting to get this thing as ready as I can get it before then.
Also, here’s something I haven’t mentioned in awhile – The Jewel of Onsolot, the first book in my Artifact Series, I’ve just been assigned an editor and will be working on getting this gem (pun intended) out, hopefully by the end of this year.

Both of these novels are different from anything you’ve read from me before. A Gift from Above was a bit of a young-adult, contemporary, fictional, novel-ish…thing.

The Artifact Series is a fantasy about witches and wizards and… pretty much every single magical element I’ve ever heard of – dragons, unicorns, vampires, ghosts – you name it, it’s in there.

Howl is a paranormal… fantasy… thing… it focuses on werewolves – and only werewolves – and it’s my first novel that has a bit more romance than any of my other novels. The romance has a bit of a written-in-the-stars vibe, so those who are into that type of thing, should look out for it.

Okay, I’m done taking up your time! Get back to work!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I soon realized that I couldn’t possibly fit all of the things that I’m thankful for into 140 characters, so I decided to post here. *stretches* Ah, plenty of space…
So, to make it more epic, I’m going to put it in poetry form… To make it interesting, I’m putting it into Acrostic poetry form. For those of you who don’t know what an acrostic poem is, it is basically a poem that spells out a word with each letter in a line. For instance, my poem is going to be Thankful, the first line is going to start with the letter T, the next line H, the line after, A, ect. Yay! Okay, here goes.

Thankful

Thankful for the parents

Having them there for me.

And also for the presents

Next month, I’ll find them under the tree.

Kindness in my life, I’m thankful for

Forward moving is what I’ve been given

Ultimately for blowing all these doors.

Lastly, for keeping me goal driven.

Of course, this isn’t all that I’m thankful for, but this poem covers the main things that I am the most thankful for. On a side note, I’d also like to include a list of the ten things that I am thankful for:

1. My parents

2. My opportunities

3. My family

4. My friends (literally all of them, even my crazy, stalker friends)

5. My fans

6. Music

7. My voice

8. Paint

9. That seven eight nine… (I’m sorry, I had to!)

10. That cheesecake that wants me to eat it…

What are you thankful for? Leave a comment below and let me know!

There really isn’t anything to be ungrateful for, at the least, the annoying stuff provides emotions you wouldn’t feel without it. Be grateful for that.

Beat the Heat with a Baseball Bat

Growing up in Arizona, if there's one thing I know, it's how cruel and unusual the desert can be. Right now, the summer is getting into full swing - and not just in the southwest.

So, pretty much everyone I talk to claims that the humidity kills 'back east' and is nothing compared to AZ's heat - even my father who was born and raised back there. And yes, admittedly, we are lucky 80% of the year with horribly dry weather, which makes frying more of a possibility than melting. BUT! With monsoon season approaching in little over a week, I do feel the need to clear up that it isn't this way for the other 20% of the year. I'm talking about an average of 109 degree temperatures plus enough humidity to melt a turtle.

I did some research a few hours ago, and did find that the average humidity percentage for Arizona is 56% - that's the average for the whole year. So, it isn't quite 70% humidity or even 60% as I previously guessed, but it's probably more than most people would think.

But let's combine those infamous 112 degree temperatures with that 56% humidity.

Now how about that 'back east' weather? Their average temperature in summer is 80 degrees. Their average humidity percentage is 80%.
So, by looking at the statistics, both pretty much average out to being equally horrid and filled with a bunch of ick. The difference is 30 degrees more or 30% more humidity.

Now, the question is which is worse? What you can handle?

The heat or the humidity?

*Note: My vote is to move to Alaska during summer seasons... btw... so I'm like... Switzerland.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson vists!



Carolyn Howard-Johnson
(3rd person from the left)
accepting an award.

          Today, I'm featuring a skilled promotion, editing, and writing guru who makes my skills look like baby-talk. So, let's see a little bit more about what Carolyn does from her mouth. Yep, I'll stop gibbering now.

         As a college freshman, Carolyn Howard-Johnson was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for the Salt Lake Tribune--"A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper"--where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige.
         Later, in New York, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List, where she wrote releases for celebrity designers of the time including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich and Christian Dior. She was also a consultant for the Oak Park Press in the Chicago area.
         Her nonfiction and humor have been seen in national magazines and her fiction and poetry appear regularly in anthologies and review journals. She has been a columnist for The Pasadena Star News and is now a columnist for Home Décor Buyer, a trade magazine, and Myshelf.com and others. She writes movie and theatre reviews for The Glendale News-Press.
         She studied at the University of Utah, graduated from USC and has done postgraduate work in writing at UCLA. She also studied writing at Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University in Prague.
          The author’s first novel, This Is The Place, and her book of creative nonfiction are award-winners. She also wrote a screenplay, The Killing Ground. Her book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't was named USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004 and won Book Publicists of southern California's Irwin award.

          The second book in the HowToDoItFrugally series is The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success which also won a USA Book News Best Book nod. It is also the winner of Reader Views Literary Award and a finalist in the New Generation Indie Best Book Awards. Her marketing campaign for that book took top honors for marketing.

         Howard-Johnson’s stories have appeared in anthologies like: Pass/Fail, edited by Rose A. O. Kleidon, PhD; Calliope’s Mousepad in review journals like California State University at Stanislaus's Penumbra and the Mochila Review.

        She was honored as Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award by California Legislature members, Carol Liu, Dario Frommer and Jack Scott. She is the recipient of her community's Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance. She was honored by her city's Character and Ethics committee for promoting tolerance with her writing and was named to Pasadena Weekly's list of 14 women of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen".

          Born and raised in Utah, Howard-Johnson raised her own family in sunny Southern California.

-----------------

         Now, here are some links to get to know more about this wonderful person. And if you're a NaNoWriMo participant this year, you might want to grab a copy of her Frugal Editor, so when Nation Novel Editing Month (December) comes around, you'll be ready to edit each and every one of those 50,000 words!

BLOGS FOCUSED ON WRITING AND RELATED TOPICS

http://www.SharingWithWriters.blogspot.com


          Sharing with Writers is a blog on all things publishing with an emphasis on book promotion. It was named to Writer's Digest 101 Best Website list.

http://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/

          The New Book Review is a great way for readers, authors, reviewers and publicists to get more mileage out of a great review. Guidelines for submitting (and recycling) good reviews are in the left column. Scroll down a bit. It's free.


http://www.SizzlingBookFairBooths.blogspot.com

          The Sizzling Book Fair Booths is a blog where participants in in my HowToDoItFrugally cooperative fair booths exchange ideas that make a ho-hum booth into a sizzling success. We keep it open so all authors can learn from our successes and mmmm...challenges.



http://www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com/

          This is the Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. It covers everything that has anything to do with editing from grammar to formatting. The question and answer format encourages you to get the answers you need.

OFF THE SUBJECT OF WRITING--MOSTLY

www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com

          My creative writing is mostly inspired by the need for tolerance--nay, acceptance--on this planet. War Peace Tolerance also includes resources so that people can--no matter what they think of our wars--support our troops.

Also check out Carolyn's Website where you can see what other kinds of books she has written. She's also on Twitter!

Follow the blog tour - Marvin Wilson is hosting Margaret Fieland!

60th Blog Post + See What I'm Up to Online

Yep, it's my 60th blog post already! How exciting. I'll have to have a party when I reach 100 blog posts. All of you who have blogs are probably looking at this like "The girl is absolutely batty!" - lol - I'm a bored person, what do you expect?

Anyways, I've been quite busy in my adventures and I've decided to take a bit of time to let everyone know where I am and what I'm doing. First of all, offline, I'm working on a few books, namely Howl and The Cloak of Erason (the second installment in my series of nine).

The Cloak of Erason hasn't been featured online except on bitesizeedits.com which is only in random sentence snippets. So, I'm not going to count that. It probably won't be featured online - sorry.

Howl has already made it's appearance on bitesizeedits.com, it is currently on writing.com and inkpop.com, I'll post the direct links to those at the end of this post.

The Jewel of Onsolot - my kinda finished novel, and the first in the Aritifact Series - is my baby and has already be featured online. It is currently being prepared for publication, don't have any information on the release date as of yet.

Alright, I'm going to attempt to not make this too legnthy, so I'll run a quick list of all of the social network sites you can find me on.

FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=1840847747 (you need to friend me to see my profile, mention in the notes you read my blog post so I know you're not a spammer).

Twitter - http://twitter.com/kittynadem (this is somewhat my complaint department, but I do post quite amusing things as well. More amusing than complaining).

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/kittynadem

LinkedIn - I'm on there somewhere, but I'm still a newbie, so I haven't figured out how to post my profile yet. You can search for me on there though.

Howl on InkPop - http://inkpop.com/projects/3511/howl/

I'm not going to post the one on writing.com because the formatting is off on that one.

These are all of the ones that I frequent most often, so feel free to friend me, follow me, or review my work. And don't forget to follow my blog if you aren't already. If you don't follow, don't forget to stop back in on the 9th of September, I'll be hosting author Dianne Sagan.

Thanks for reading!

The New Book Covers for the JGDS Series

Elysabeth Eldering, the author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, and I (the new illustrator and cover design artist for the series) have been hard at work with four of her latest books, all to be realeased for sale this year. It's an honor to be a part of this wonderful series. Below are the covers of the books, so you can see what I've been up to these past few months.

Here is the cover for State of Successes, the 4th book in the JGDS series and the next book to be released for that.

This is the cover for State of Heights - my favorite so far - this is book #5 in the series.

This is Passport Across America, an awesome activity booklet to go along with the JGDS series.

Here's Train of Clues, the first book in the JGDS series.













The next book, State of Nature, is in production and the book cover should be released soon - as soon as it is, I'll be sure to post it on my blog so you all can check it out. If you want to know more about, or keep up to date with the series, go to http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com/ or http://junior-geography-detective-squad.weebly.com/  There you can find more information on where to purchase these books and see what Ms Eldering is up to.