Back Online Again

My apologies if I've missed replying to anyone these past couple of days. My modem died (or I thought it did. It turned out to be just the power supply), but I'm up and running again. Thank goodness for Radio Shack who helped us find the right part!

Van Gogh in His Own Words

Vincent Van Gogh has always been such an interesting while tragic figure to me. It's difficult to get past the suffering and depression that led him to take his life. But...he created such beautiful work, and in this video which tells his story through his work and his words (which Chopin playing in the background), he becomes more real and less tragic. At least that's how it appears to me. When I see things like this, I can't help but wonder how many unsung geniuses there are in the world right now.

A Lesson in Travel Frustration

I often watch videos by the Vlogbrothers (John and Hank), because I like their little insights into science and life and I enjoy their style of delivery, but...I don't think we share the same audience, so I seldom post those videos here. However, I have a feeling that most of us experience a sense of anxiety when traveling (it's so complicated) and here John explains why he has a legitimate reason not to travel to Canada more often. I'm betting that most of us can empathize with his situation.

At the Top of My To Be Read Pile

Or...actually, I've just started reading it. Below Stairs is the book that inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, and while I never actually watched either of those shows (not because I wasn't interested, but because once I'd missed the beginnings I didn't want to come in mid-show), I'm only one chapter in and already fascinated by Margaret Powell's story of her life in service.

Epic Trailer (2013)

I'm not quite sure about this (or even what it's totally about), but it looks intriguing. And I'm always willing to give a new animated film a try.

In Praise of Smiles, Laughter and Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

You've seen this before (or I have). The photographer poses the wedding party on a wooden dock and the dock collapses. What I like about this one is the way everyone took it in good stride, even the bride. I've been to a lot of weddings and I've forgotten a lot of them. This unexpected finale may not be what the bride and groom wanted, but they'll certainly never forget it. No one was hurt, and everyone smiled and laughed. I like that (but I'd still advise against those dock photos in the future).

Thomas Hardy, Happy Belated Birthday

When I was in college, a professor asked me who I was reading and I mentioned that I'd been reading a lot of Thomas Hardy. He told me that I must be a depressing person. That made me smile, because yes, some of Hardy's characters are put upon, even doomed to unhappiness. Still, although it's been years since I picked up a novel by Hardy, I remain a fan.

This plaque marks the Hardy Trail in Shaftesbury (Dorset). The notes with the image included the following: Shaftesbury was Thoms Hardy's "Shaston" a name often used in medieval times. It is mentioned in Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and plays a large part in Jude the Obscure (1895).

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Some facts about Hardy, from Inside Google Books: 5 Fun Facts About Thomas Hardy include the fact that he was an ardent believer in Darwin's Theory of Evolution and that he is said to have coined the term cliffhanger.

Here's a brief biography (and yes, it's Wikipedia so there may be some inaccuracies). I was horrified to read that when he died, the executors of his estate burned his letters and notebooks. 

Thomas Hardy was born June 2nd, so yes, I'm quite late, but it's never to late to celebrate a person's life and work, so...Happy Birthday, Thomas Hardy. And thank you for your words. 

Making Cheese in France

I don't really know exactly where this is, but this is certainly cheese making on a large scale and rather charming to watch. I'd love to see this in person.



via 22 Words

And if you'd like to try some basic cheese making at home, here's a very easy method for a soft cheese (as opposed to the hard cheese above, which needs to be pressed and aged).

Some People Really Like to Barbecue

Like this man in Sweden, cooking away while it's raining like crazy. Looks a bit unsafe.



via Daily Picks and Flicks

Uh Oh, Henri the Cat Takes a Trip to the Vet

And he's not a happy cat. Not that he's ever happy, but still...

The Appeal of the Blue Door

I always wanted to have a blue door. I don't know why. I just find them...appealing. Maybe I just like the color blue that much. At any rate, my house would look silly with a blue door, so I'll have to settle for these lovely photographs.

The text that went with this photo reads: "When Queen Victoria died, the Irish were ordered by the British government to paint their front doors black in mourning. To rebel, front doors were painted in bright colors. This tradition continues today."

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Write Just One Sentence

There are days when the world seems to be rushing by or...pushing itself into our writing time. On those days, lack of time or excessive stress can make getting even one word on the page a struggle. But, I find that if I manage to type just one sentence, then I usually just can't leave that one sentence to stand alone. Maybe it's my tendency to think too much or my tendency to rattle on, but one sentence always becomes at least a few. And a few sentences can lead to more. It can at least leave me in a good place to begin the next day.

So, on the bad days when life intrudes into your writing time, strive to write one sentence. If that's all that will come, let it be. It's still one sentence farther into the book than you were the day before. Be forgiving of yourself if there's a lot happening in your life. Sometimes you just have to let life happen.

After all, where do all of our best ideas come from? They come from living.

What I'm Reading Today

I'm not sure why I picked up Alison Arngrim's Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated. It's been years since I've seen an episode of Little House on the Prairie (where as noted in the title, Alison played Nellie Oleson). But it's turning into an interesting read. Note: If you simply want to remember Little House through a filmy haze, you probably shouldn't read any of the autobiographical books written by the actresses, but if you don't mind a dose of reality, this one will keep you entertained and let you see the person behind the blond wig and the sneering expression.

It's National Accordion Awareness Month

Admittedly, I seldom find myself thinking about accordions. I grew up in a community where polka music was...relatively common, but usually I just don't think about accordions even though I admire anyone who can play such a complicated instrument (at least it seems complicated to me). So, here's Edo Krilic playing his own interesting and different composition, Sar-Pari Waltz.



And the accordion version of La Valse d'Amélie, just because I like that movie so much.

10 Things That Happen Every Second

I have always been fascinated (and sometimes a bit weirded out) by the fact that while I sit at my desk or eat my breakfast or...do anything, billions of other people are also living their lives and having completely different experiences. There's a lot happening in the world, all the time, every day, every second. So here are 10 things that happen every second (I was glad to see that they documented their sources).

Dreaming of Rain

Chicago's spring has been terribly dry, and hotter than usual. Under such circumstances, this photo of Strasbourg in the rain looks so inviting.

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If You've Ever Read (or Written) a Series of Books

You might find this video, Write Like the Wind (George R. R. Martin) apropos and amusing. Because haven't we all been there, impatiently waiting for that next book to continue the story?

In Case You're Uncertain of Your Travel Plans...

Here are 10 Lesser Known Natural Wonders of the World

This Was Supposed to be a Post on Books, But...

Buzzfeed did a pictorial on Classic Movie Stars Spending Time with Their Pets and I just couldn't miss
passing it along. Enjoy! (Warning: At the bottom of the images is a video, and they're right about the tears when Jimmy Stewart reads the poem about Bo, who passed away. I thought I wouldn't cry, but I did).

Audrey Hepburn

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Never Again Grace Elizabeth! (The Dubious Joys of Amusement Parks)

This is why I'm so awful at amusement parks. I'm not much different from this father. (Note: how the little girl seems totally unfazed by the ride and really seems to be enjoying herself).

If You're Into Messy Eating...

Although there's a definite fun factor attached to this table from the Duffy London website, I just have visions of trying to clean it while the chairs swung around and hit me in the back. Still, I'm all for innovative design and I'm sure many other people are, too, so I'll admit that it's interesting.

via Incredible Things

Setting, Whether Writing or Traveling

Setting is always important whether you're writing a book or planning a trip. It's always fun to anticipate and to search out images for places you plan to go, whether via keyboard, car or plane. So here are some roads I might actually want to travel down someday (or put in a book).

North Yorkshire in England (I may have already driven this road).

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Virginia

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The road into Queenstown, New Zealand

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Okay, it's not a road, but very pretty. These are the San Juan Mountains in Colorado near Ouray.

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Along the Million Dollar Highway (also in Colorado)

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So if you could choose only one place to visit this year, what would it be? (Or one place to write about or read about)?

Happy Travels!

We Are the World (Where the Hell is Matt? 2012)

I'm sure you've seen some of the Where the Hell is Matt? videos. This one is especially nice (love the ending). The fact that (as one person in the comments said), these videos point out the "We are one world" message is wonderful. Dance, music (and clearly Matt in this case) can help us find common ground. Lovely.

When Was the Last Time You Were This Excited?

Jack Andraka, who is 15, won the top award at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for his invention of a non-invasive way of detecting early stage pancreatic cancer.

Avoiding the Uranus Problem

I love language, but as a former teacher, I can tell you that there are subjects a teacher dreads just because she knows how sixth graders will react when having to pronounce the words Uranus or Lake Titicaca. Those are always long lessons to get into until the giggles wear off. Here then, C.G.P. Grey tackles the dilemma of trying to pronounce Uranus while having a serious discussion.

Capturing an Entire Vacation in a Minute

Kevin Kelly recorded a one-second clip each day of his 2-month vacation in Asia (all right, on some days it was a two-send clip). Then he put them together into this video. It's a taste of Asia, I suppose. At any rate, it makes me want to pack my bags and travel.



Here's his website, if you'd like to see some stills.

Writing Tip: Know How Biology Affects Your Writing

I am a morning writer. Or even better, an afternoon writer. I'm not an evening writer and certainly not a middle of the night writer. As the hours march on, my thought processes become sluggish. The magic elused me.

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I have friends, however, who cringe at the thought of writing early in the morning. Their creative juices start flowing much, much later in the day than mine do.

Does that mean I never write at night? Of course not. There have been times when I've either been so caught  up in a book that I didn't want to stop even though I could feel myself tiring and becoming less focused. At other times, I simply had to write into the wee hours because the work had to get done. 

That said, I really do think that the work comes alive, it dances, it zings much more when we each pay attention to our inner clock. And that middle of the night writing I've done? Well, I can guarantee that when it came time to edit that work, I was editing during prime time for me. Daytime. 

As an example of another way time of day can affect the work, I, like almost every author, keep paper by my bed (because I can guarantee that if an idea comes to me in the middle of the night, it won't be there when I wake up the next day if I don't scribble it down). That said, I've arisen the next morning on numerous occasions to stare at my hastily scribbled, middle-of-the-night notes to think that aliens must have entered my room and written on my pad of paper during the night. The idea in question was so bizarre or worse, lame, that it couldn't possibly have come from me. Needless to say, I rarely harvest good ideas this way (though I keep trying), but I'm betting that the late nighters frequently come up with gems on their nightstand pads of paper. 

Oh well, we're all different. We each have our strengths and our best time to create. All we have to do is...learn what time of day we're most creative and then seize the best hours of the day. Don't let anything interfere (or interfere too often) if you can help it. I guarantee that your writing will be better for it. 

Another Unique Marriage Proposal

The beginning is fun, but things really pick up at around the 2:15 mark.



via Viral Viral Videos

Monsters University Trailer

Coming in summer of 2013

Book Covers by Larry Roibal

Yesterday I talked about To Wed a Rancher taking 5th place in a cover contest. When I contacted a representative from Cover Cafe to thank her for having the contest and to praise the artist, she told me that Larry Roibal was the artist. That was interesting, because Larry has done a couple (or more) other fantastic covers for my books. Here are two of them (and if you click on the Cover Cafe link, he also did the cover for the second place book by Susan Gable):

I've also found a couple of wonderful (and interesting) articles about him. In this one (from a post from Liz Fielding's blog in 2008), he explains his process. I've read this post before, and it still intrigues me years later.

And here's more from a post by Trish Wylie's on the Harlequin site.

Larry, wherever you are, thank you for so many wonderful covers!

What a Cutie! (German Shepherd Confused by a "Talking" Husky)

From the YouTube page:

Noushka is a rescue dog from Lebanon who had a rough beginning. Not to worry, she has adapted quite nicely to her forever home in Canada. Here, she wakes up in bewilderment, to the YouTube video of "Mishka the Talking Husky."

via Daily Picks and Flicks

Did You Know That We're All Related?

If you go far enough back in town, we probably have common ancestors. Is that awesome or what?

About Those Covers (Again)...

While I was away, I received word that To Wed a Rancher took 5th place in the series competition at Cover Cafe. I loved reading the comments, so many thanks to the people at Cover Cafe and those who voted and/or commented. As mentioned, I'm not comfortable asking people to vote (so, of course I didn't), so I was thrilled with fifth place. I wish I knew who the artist is, as that's the person who should really receive the credit. Thank you, anonymous artist! It really is a pretty cover, and I appreciate your hard work.

Keep Pedaling - The Illini4000

My apologies for not having another post up today sooner and for being a bit slow in answering comments during these past few days. Since last Thursday I've been out of town. The Illini 4000, a group of 28 bicyclists, mostly students at the University of Illinois, were passing through Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and my husband and I were hosting them. I just arrived back home last night and promptly fell asleep at 7:30! (I cannot believe I fell asleep that early).

I've written about this group before (this was our 5th year as hosts: we fell into this because our son has been a rider, a director, a ride leader and is now the alumni coordinator), but each group is different. To be honest, every year I think about whether we want to keep doing this. And every year, after each group arrives, I always wonder why I even questioned continuing. Every group of riders is different, but all are amazing. These young people give up jobs (and money) to bicycle across the country (it used to be 4,000 miles but now is about 4,500 miles), sleeping on the floor for more than two months (75 days), living in constant group circumstances, relying on the good will of others for food and sporadic access to showers (a garden hose turned on themselves is not uncommon, I understand), forcing themselves up mountains by their own pedal power, biking through whatever weather is thrown at them and missing out on family events and celebrations.

A message on their home page reads:

FIVE million diagnosed each year. One lost to cancer every minute. But there is a hope. For the families, researchers and doctors committed to the fight, we pedal. By the hope, love, and support of people we meet, 

we keep going.

Some of the riders blog about their experiences, and an ongoing message I've seen over these past five years is that whenever they're struggling to climb a mountain or get past physical pain, they remember those they've met who have fought and are continue to fight to survive the pain and fear of cancer. Indeed, just to stay alive. The riders' message to themselves is that no pain they can experience during this challenging ride can begin to compare to the pain of the people they're riding for. If those with cancer can keep fighting, then surely they can keep riding in the hope of helping those battling to survive.

This is a group that has managed to donate 87% of their funds collected, a much higher percentage than most charities. Over the past five years, they've managed to donate $306,000 to the American Cancer Society; $37,500 to Camp Kesem, a summer camp for the children of those battling cancer; $19,500 to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (provides young scientists with funds to pursue innovative cancer research); $5,000 to the Ishan Gala Foundation (fighting pediatric neuroblastoma); and $5,000 to a University of Illinois cancer researcher, Dr. Harley (note: for the first few years, money was only given to the American Cancer Society and Camp Kesem: hence, the reason for the much larger numbers for those causes). That's a total of $398,000 donated. This year, the group has collected just shy of $116,000 (so far). 

All, I can say is, Keep Going, Illini 4000!

Longing for Maker Faire

I've never been to a Maker Faire, an event "created by Make Magazine to celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset," but after seeing this video, I want to go to one.

If You're a Star Trek Fan...

Here's an interview with Simon Pegg about the upcoming movie.



There's not much more info out there as of  yet (there's a teaser trailer, but it's fan made, not the real thing even if it was made to look real. Lots of people were fooled).

If you're impatient, here's a blooper reel from the first movie from 2009 (which you may already have seen).

Pythagoras Brought to Life

Maybe you have to really be into math or science or history (or all three) to enjoy this video. As for me, I got caught up in the drawings and story.

I Would Love to See a Working Airpod

For the last couple of years, there's been talk (and prototypes) of a car that can run on compressed air.



Now Tata India appears on the verge of going into production, but questions and reservations remain. Here's another article with more images.

Books and Lists

I love books (of course). I also live by lists. Love to make lists. Love to read lists. So, of course, this photo someone took of a list of books they read in 2008 appealed to me. I've never kept a list of the books I've read. I wonder if I had done that all my life just how long the list would be. It boggles the mind, doesn't it?

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Sometimes I forget the titles of the books I've read. If you asked me to scribble down all of the books I've read during the last 6 months or even 3 months, I might not be able to. But I do love reading lists of books that other people have read. There's something so energizing about it. All those new books just waiting for me to read, too. So, if you have any great recommendations on your own book list, I'd love to hear them. I'm always on the lookout for the next good book.

Truth or Dare New York Style

I've never been a big fan of Truth or Dare, but Chelsea Davison made things a bit more interesting. Here's the resulting video.



And here's the background and more information as to how this went down.

Those Tiny Buttons

I have a stylus I use when having to deal with the tiny buttons on some electronic devices, but even that isn't an ideal solution. At least I don't have the problem this blue monster does.


The ATM from Rikke Asbjoern on Vimeo.

Book Covers I Have Known and Loved

As a writer, I sometimes like to pretend that covers don't really matter. I've had fantastic covers and less than fantastic covers. Ones that perfectly matched the book and some that might have been a bit misleading. Although I provide input for the cover, in the end, I don't have much to do with that part of publishing. And maybe that's just as well. I'm no artist. 

But...covers really do matter. I've been drawn in by covers myself. The first Laura Kinsale I ever read (years ago) was Seize the Fire. I didn't have a clue who Laura Kinsale was, but I loved that stepback cover, so I bought the book. Fortunately, I also loved the book and became an instant fan.

Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time is another example of a cover that sucked me in (although by that time I was already a Jennifer Crusie fan, I would have bought the book just for the cover, I think. The floating coffee cup and the heart made me want to know more).

Or how about Rick Riorda's The Lost Hero cover? How awesome is that?

As for my own covers, it's hard to choose a favorite. These past few years I've really been blessed with gorgeous artwork on my books. This cover was nominated for an award (don't ask me what contest. I received an email telling me that it was a finalist, but since those types of contests require votes and they always feel like popularity contests with the contestants begging people to vote for their book, something I'm not even remotely comfortable doing, I just took it as a nice moment and moved on. I think it's a very pretty cover, but I'm not sure it's better than others I've been lucky enough to have.

And I'm totally not going to mention the few books where I've worried that the cover didn't quite reflect the story. I have, as I said, been incredibly lucky.

So...can you think of any books where the cover just reached out and begged you to pick up the book? 

The Disappointed Book

I sometimes feel this way about books in my TBR pile. As if I'm somehow mistreating the book by taking too long to get to it. It's worse when I never actually do get around to reading the book and end up donating it.


The Diary of a Disappointed Book from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

How about you? Have you ever disappointed a book?

I Love How Inventive Some People Are

Such as in this video. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Trouble features the music of the Avett Brothers and the animation of Jason Mitcham. Thousands of small alterations were made to a single painting to create this video.


Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise from Jason Mitcham on Vimeo.

Starry Starry Night

This is the trailer for Starry Starry Night. It looks sweet and the visual effects seem impressive. Here's a review.

Mark Zuckerberg "Facebook" Art

Artist ohiseeRED makes a portrait of Mark Zuckerberg out of books. Lest any of you be concerned about destroying books (I think I'm less concerned these days since I'm always surrounded by so many duplicate copies of books), here's the explanation from her YouTube page:

What inspired me?
I was in the States last month for the EG Conference (http://www.the-eg.com) and wanted to do a portrait of an iconic American...I decided on Mark Zuckerberg and I thought I'd use BOOKS for his portrait, to play around with the words, 'face book'! LOL. was that PUNNY or what?!

ps: I used 36 Game of Thrones books because they were the thickest I could find. And by slicing off just the sides, the books can still be read...no words were cut off, I made sure of that. I am also giving them away to friends, so each book that is given away is personalised and unique.





For the details on how she actually did this, check out her website.

In the Redwood Forest

This video, Redwood I, by Steven Poe is about as close as you can get to actually walking through a redwood forest. Beautiful!


Redwood I from Steven Poe on Vimeo.

Books: The Digital Part

I talked yesterday about some reasons I still buy print books. And yet I do read digital books. A lot of digital books. What's the deal with that?

Sure, you know all the usual reasons. Carrying an entire library in a reader the size of a thin paperback? That's pretty heady stuff.

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Being able to search for a part you wanted to look back at simply by keying in a few words rather than diligently poring through the entire book. Oh yes, that counts.

Being able to buy a book online and read it immediately? Definitely.

But I think one of my favorite parts of reading digital books (and dislike watching other people reading digital books) is the anonymity of it. I can read anything I want and no one will turn their nose up at what I'm reading. I can read a book 4, 5, 6 times or more and no one will say "Haven't you already read that?" Because they can't tell what I'm reading. (Conversely, because I like seeing what other people are reading, this works in reverse, too. I miss out on being able to strike up conversations about other people's books. Instead, the conversation tends to turn to the reader itself). Still, I do like that whole secretive aspect. I like feeling a bit mysterious.

So, if you too read digital, what is your favorite part of the experience?

Just Great Dogs and Great Music

This video by Keith A. Hopkin is nothing more than dogs sticking their heads out of car windows (to the tune of Phantom Planet's "California." But the production values are so good, the dogs so adorable and the music so great that it worked for me.



via Viral Viral Videos

This is a follow-up to his original Dogs in Cars video.

Kinetic Sculpture by Anthony Howe

These sculptures by Orcas Island, Washington sculptor Anthony Howe are fascinating. Here's a video, but do go to his website and click on the individual works where you'll see very short videos of his recent work.

Books: The Print Part

Often these days we hear about (and perhaps worry about) the death of books in print form, but I'm not so sure that print is going away any time soon.. Here are some examples of book art, books that couldn't really exist in a digital form.



I've made no secret of how much I like digital books (sometimes, anyway), but I don't intend to give up print books. Some books just work better for me in print. Illustrations are more touchable in print, so children's books and many reference books work better for me in a print form. Sometimes I really need to be able to flip through a book to find what I want as opposed to doing a search for terms. Travel guides would lack something (for me) in a digital form.

And there are benefits to print that don't exist in digital. There's no need to be tethered to a power source to recharge a reader. Books are a bit more durable than breakable readers.

Still, do I think print is suffering? Yes, of course.

Do I think it will die out? I hope not. I sincerely hope not.

So...even if you read digital books (and possibly love digital books), do you still read print? What instances induce you to choose print over digital?

Storycorp's A Family Man

I've posted some of Storycorp's videos on here before (see Danny & Annie). They're heartwarming real-life story of people's experiences and relationships. Here in A Family Man, the narrator remembers his father, a hard-working man who could discipline with a look.

Mr. Rogers Remix

This video has been everywhere during the few days it's been out, so...why not here, too? After all, you all know how much I like Mister Rogers! It's remixed by Symphony of Science's John D. Boswell for PBS Digital Studios. I hope it plays out of the US.

Reading About Traveling Without Actually Traveling

I love to travel, but I know I'll never make it everywhere I want to do. Plus, it's fun to see a place from another person's perspective. That's why I'm enjoying Book Lust to Go by Nancy Pearl. Pearl is a librarian and she prefers her travel via books. So she wrote Book Lust to Go to tell people about all the wonderful books that can carry a reader away to another world without actually leaving one's house.

I'm not about to give up traveling, but this book (which is more of a listing of book descriptions than a sit down and read the whole thing experience) has added to my own book lust for books that open doors to places I've never been. One of my own favorites (not included in this book, I don't believe) is A Blonde in Africa by Laura Resnick (it's a bit hard to find these days, but an ebook edition should be available soon as per this page from her website. You can read excerpts here, too). The fact that she's a fiction writer was what brought me to the table originally. But as soon as I began reading I forgot all about the fiction writer part. I was simply caught up in her experiences. This was a bold and fun adventure!

Do you have any favorite books (fiction or nonfiction) that made you feel as if you had traveled without leaving home?

Watching a Movie Before You Read the Book

I've just finished watching The French Lieutenant's Woman for the first time since I saw it when it came out (in 1981, I think). And it occurred to me that I had never read the book and that I'd very much like to read it.



I'm a little concerned that I may not enjoy it as much as the movie, human nature being what it is (we like best what we experience first). I see this all the time in music. People who are around for the original version of a song tend to like that version better than remakes whereas younger generations often like the newer version better, but that may just be because music is such a backdrop for our teenage years and calls up such instantaneous emotions. So, I'm not so sure that "whatever comes first is the favorite" is as true when one is comparing movies to books.

Still, this fear that watching a movie may spoil the book for me is why I often put off watching a movie until I've finished the book. Sadly, it often means that I don't get around to seeing the movie until much later, sometimes years later (I've yet to see The Help and The Hunger Games, although I've read both books and want to see the movies). So what's your feeling? Read the book first or watch the movie first (and how has that affected your feelings about whatever comes second)?

Inventive Prom Proposal

This prom proposal took 1500 balloons!

Goodnight, iPad

If you're fond of Goodnight Moon, you might get a chuckle out of this.

Coming This Christmas: Les Misérables (the Movie)

With Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe.

There Really is a Good (and Slightly Funny) Reason Why X is the Unknown

We're all used to using X as the unknown, especially in math. Buy why? Well, there's actually a very simple reason.

Writer's Tip - Conflict is the Name of the Game

I'll keep this tip short (or as short as a long-winded person like me can). Conflict counts. It runs the show. It's the difference between having a book and not having a book. It's a large part of what draws a reader to a story. So to make things easy on yourself, make sure your characters are in conflict before you begin. It will save you so much trouble down the road (and I know this from personal experience. There have been a few books where I've gotten many chapters into writing, and the story just isn't gelling. Almost every time that has happened, it's been because my conflict wasn't strong enough. That meant ripping things apart, rethinking, tossing pages and sometimes starting over. No author likes having to destroy her work, but without a good conflict sometimes destruction is the only answer.

So the first rule is simple:

1. Have a conflict.

 

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What exactly is conflict? It's the insurmountable thing that means (in a romance) that your characters can't be together. In a mystery, it might be whatever is keeping your protagonist from solving the problem. In an adventure, it might be the dragons/battles/whatever, your protagonist has to get past in order to succeed. In a character study, the conflict might be whatever personal demons the character is fighting. Whatever type of book you're writing, the book will flow better for you as a writer and be a more compelling experience for readers if the conflict is a strong one.

So rule number two is:
Make the conflict strong.

Writing conflict is difficult for some writers because they want to get to the satisfaction part as soon as possible. They want the happy ending for their characters just as much as the reader does, and...let's face it, there are plenty of people who abhor conflict in their lives, so forcing their characters to remain in a tense, uncomfortable, high-conflict situation for 200, 300 or more pages is just as uncomfortable for the writer as it is for the characters. The temptation is to make things nice too quickly, to tie things up with pretty ribbon too early. When you find yourself wanting to do that, resist. Maintaining conflict may be uncomfortable but making things too nice too quickly is death to a book.

Rule number 3:
3. Maintain the conflict throughout the book.

Lastly, be aware that a bad situation isn't necessarily a conflict. A bad situation is when Jane Eyre (if you're a romance writer, I assume that you've read Jane Eyre) startles Mr. Rochester's horse, he takes a bad fall and is angry with her, and a short time later they both realize that she is both his employee and the woman who caused him to injure his leg. That makes her an annoyance and causes them to get off to a bad start, but it won't sustain a book. The real conflict (the internal one) deals with Jane never having had anyone she could trust/love and Mr. Rochester betraying that trust by feeling that he is entitled to something Jane would never have given willingly had she known of his past. And, of course, there's the very solid and insurmountable external conflict of Mr. Rochester already being wed/tied to an insane woman he was tricked into marrying. That's true conflict. It's strong, it's powerful and it drives us to read on. If you shoot for that type of powerful conflict, you'll be miles ahead of most new writers (and a lot of experienced ones as well).

Does that mean that there aren't good books that have less powerful conflicts? No, it doesn't. Some of my favorite writers have based books on conflicts that are a bit...slight, but those authors are the exceptions. They're almost always writers who have such strong skills in other areas that as readers we give them a pass on the conflict. And there are very few authors who possess that kind of mastery. So, resist the slight conflict.

Do yourself a favor as a writer and go for the gold. Aim for a powerful conflict. Because a book with a strong conflict is a joy to read and much easier to sell to editors and readers.

Best Wishes and Happy Writing!

Mr. Rogers Shows Us How to Live Again

A redditor posted a letter he had sent to Mr. Rogers years ago (in the 80's). He was looking for places to purchase Atari games, so he went directly to a man he trusted. Here's Mr. Rogers' response:

What a class act he was! Still miss him. The funny (or maybe sad) thing is that when I was in my early 20's I thought he was kind of silly. It just goes to show you how much a person's attitude changes as they mature. I'm glad I grew out of that "too cool to appreciate Mr. Rogers" phase. Here's the link to the original reddit discussion. 

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A Manly Task

Carrying the groceries in is so very difficult (and manly). (And yes, this is a commercial, but not one we see here in the states).

How Tattoos are Removed

You don't really have to watch the entire video, but I'd never seen laser tattoo removal and I was fascinated by how fast it was (the text under the video indicated that the subject would come back for several more lightening sessions before the removal would be complete).

Some Fun Facts About Coffee

Just because I'm a coffee nut drinker. 22 Facts About Coffee

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SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit

Okay, last time for the transit of Venus, I promise. Actually, I wasn't even going to include this video, but it's from NASA and it's ultra-high def (and it has great music, too). Here's the info from the NASA site:

Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun's atmosphere, magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate.  SDO provides images with resolution 8 times better than high-definition television and returns more than a terabyte of data each day.

On June 5 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event--the transit of Venus across the face of the sun.  This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years.  The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.

The videos and images displayed here are constructed from several wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light and a portion of the visible spectrum.  The red colored sun is the 304 angstrom ultraviolet, the golden colored sun is 171 angstrom, the magenta sun is 1700 angstrom, and the orange sun is filtered visible light.  304 and 171 show the atmosphere of the sun, which does not appear in the visible part of the spectrum.

A Rehab Center for Dogs

I'm not big into the "dogs talking" stuff too much, but I do think it's very nice that there's a rehabilitation center for injured dogs.



via Viral Viral Videos

On Books and Writing and "Just for Fun" Posts

When I first started this blog back in February of 2011, it was supposed to be a mix of interesting tidbits from the internet (which I hope it is) as well as info on writing. I've had (and am having) fun with the internet tidbits, but...as one of our regulars asked me about early on...all the hunting for fun internet things does cut into the writing. I used to be better about setting time aside for both, but lately the blog has taken up more time than writing has.

And...(have to be honest here), since writing is my bread and butter and my passion, I really do need to focus a bit more on the writing part. So...I'm going to make an attempt to talk books more than I have been. I'll still post internet goodies every day (I love that part!), but there may be more of the books/writing stuff thrown in, including info about my own writing and books. I hope you won't mind.

 

I want to get back to posting more writing tips (it's been awhile since one has gone up), but today (and most of this weekend), I'll be pressed for time, so I'll leave that until next week and just mention one thing about my own writing. I have the rights back to one of my early books, one that won an award and that was a personal favorite. It was originally published as The Daddy List, but I've never been fond of that title, so when I finally get it ready to go live, I'll probably rename it (with a mention of what it used to be called, so that no one gets cheated by buying it twice). I started editing it, thinking that I would just check for minor mistakes and update any technology so that the book wouldn't appear dated, but right away I was struck by how much my style has changed over the years. So I'm cleaning it up, shortening sentences and fixing some point of view and scene change issues that worked well for the time but don't sit well with me now. Hopefully, I'll have a new cover and be able to send it out to play soon.

Also, I want to talk about some of what I've been reading lately (an awesome nonfiction book, for one) and see what everyone else is reading, if anyone is willing to share.

For those of you not all that interested in books and writing, let me reiterate that I'll still be posting lots of "just for fun" posts. I'm hoping to make the blog bigger and better, not diminish it (while still having time to write. Whew)! This is a pick and choose blog. Choose what you like and ignore the rest.

Now, enough of my talking (I seldom write such long posts). Enjoy the day!

Technology, I Loathe You (But I Love You More)

Haven't we all been there? The dreaded request to update a password? Unfortunately, it's getting more complicated...

Stick with this until the end.

Grindelwald, Switzerland and Hotel Gletschgarten

When I was at Mt. Hoy watching the transit of Venus, one of my fellow Venus watchers and I started discussing favorite vacation sites. She told me about her many trips to Grindewald, Switzerland, which sounds totally lovely. Surrounded by mountains, there are many hiking trails, great places to picnic, and one can easily get around via train and get up to some of the hiking areas via ski lift (or just ride a cable car for great viewing).

Images from My Switzerland




She highly recommended the Hotel Gletschergarten which is family run and has easy access to all the hikes and the beautiful scenery.
Images by Trip Advisor


This photo of Hotel Gletschergarten is courtesy of TripAdvisor


This photo of Hotel Gletschergarten is courtesy of TripAdvisor


This photo of Hotel Gletschergarten is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Someday...

The Girl and the Fox (animated)

This sweet little video has won and been nominated for several awards. A girl discovers that a fox is killing her family's animals, but when she goes looking for him, unexpected things happen.

My Transit of Venus Experience

Yesterday was, as you know, the transit of Venus (when Venus passes directly between the earth and the sun and we see Venus as a small dot against the sun). The next time this happens again won't be until 2117, so my husband and I were eager to witness it. This took a bit of planning. We live in Illinois, which is mostly prairie (or former prairie), which means that it's mostly flat with the buildings and trees interfering with sky watching. So an hour or so before sunset we drove 30 minutes west to Blackwell Forest Preserve, the site of Mt. Hoy (a former landfill that is now covered with grass). From there we could see in all directions for miles around and we had a good view of the setting sun. There were a few other people there, and one couple, Tom and Judy, had a fantastic telescope. Tom had configured it so that the sun was safely in view (with filters) and Venus was quite visible. That's how my husband took this photo (yes, that little dot is Venus).

We all had a great time waiting for the magic moment (sunset at 8:25). Of the dozen or so of us up there (out of about a million people within a 30-minute drive), two of the men, total strangers, were named Tom, and two of the men shared the same birthday. Of the six people I was hanging around with, 3 groups of complete strangers, 4 of us were born in August (yes, we did have too much time on our hands while we waited). LOL I'm not sure if that means that August-borns are a bit nerdier than most, but it was fun to get to know a few strangers (near the end, we met a lady viewing the sun through a welder's mask). And I even picked up a few great travel tips while I was there. More on that another time. Here we are waiting for the big moment when the sun sets (I know it looks as if I'm yawning, but I'm really laughing). That's Tom of the fantastic telescope on the right. 

Darth Vader Gets a Parking Ticket

Hmm, his powers must be incredibly diminished.

Nina Conti's Human Puppet

I've never been much of a fan of ventriloquism, but this is a bit out of the ordinary. And fun.



For more Nina Conti, visit her website.

Brownie in a Mug

I haven't been eating much chocolate lately (a real feat for me). Unfortunately, when I go too long without chocolate I eventually start combing through the cabinets in search of the stuff. Not having anything other than semi-sweet baking pieces yesterday, never a particularly satisfying solution for me, I turned to the internet. I had done the microwave chocolate cake in a cup before, but I didn't want that. Instead, I tried out this microwave brownie in a mug. It was actually pretty decent, although I probably could have cut the recipe in half. All I wanted was a taste, after all. Someone on another site suggested that it went well with ice cream, but I figured that I was already pushing the calorie-o-meter way too far already with a recipe that contained 4 tablespoons of sugar and two of cocoa. That said, I'll bet it would taste good.

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O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics

We've all been here, haven't we? A fun look at misheard lyrics.

A Photo Every Day

There are 6 videos on YouTube, all titled She Takes a Photo Every Day (one at .5 years, 1.5 years, 2.5 years, 3.5 years, 4.5 years and now 5.5 years). The girl in the video takes a photo of herself every day. Interesting. (Note: She isn't the first and probably won't be the last, but since this has been going on for that many years, she may well be the most dedicated to her project. Just my opinion, of course).

Mandalas: Beautiful and More

I've posted about mandalas here before. The literal meaning as I understand it is "circle," but there's also a spiritual, symbolic meaning, a search for wholeness. Here's a bit more of an explanation at The Mandala Project.

But mandalas can also be beautiful. Here are some gorgeous examples.

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