Good Links, February Edition

There have been some great blog posts online this month, so I thought I’d share some of the one’s I’ve enjoyed the most(and can actually remember at this moment in time).Today I donated 99 cents ($1.30 Canadian) to help a writer replace his GPS. Seriously. The story sucked me in. Pulled at my heartstrings, made me laugh. All that good stuff. I even navigated around my computer’s security software to make my donation. And then, guess what? I discovered I got something for my $1.30. Huh. I was actually a little disappointed in that my goodwill was going to get me something directly (not karmically). But I got over it quickly because I got a book. Shot of Tequila by JA Konrath. Uh, huh. So there you go. Check out the story and get a PDF of the book. Woo!

In other news, JA Konrath also has a nice checklist for writers. Are you delusional about your abilities as a writer? Maybe confident? Unsure, check it out. It is a good attitude check if nothing else.

Over at Bookends Literary blog, I discovered a fab querythat really helped me with my own. (The post is actually from January, but I only discovered it this week.) The query also wants me to buy the book which is part of the Gray Whale Inn Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries. This is the sentence that made me sit back and go ‘cool’: “But she’s barely fired up the stove when portly developer Bernard Katz rolls into town and starts mowing through her morning glory muffins.” Good stuff! Voice and all that jazz. Plus, her query packs in the protagonist’s stakes in the story. Good job!

If you are working on your synopsis, Kristin Nelson has five helpful things to keep in mind when creating that summary masterpiece over on her Pub Rants blog.

Nathan Bransford (literary agent with Curtis Brown) has a post on characters. He discusses sympathetic and unsympathetic characters and the issue of redeemability. “We’ve all read moments where this happened: a character did something so horrible and shocking and irredeemable that there was no going back. We’re officially done with that person.” That’s pretty much what happened with a book I’m reading right now (but I won’t disclose which one it is). But it has to do with these twisted, evilish little kid twins. And freakishly enough, it isn’t the first instance of twisted, evilish little kid twins that I’ve encountered in a story this year. So, if you think you know which book I’m talking about, think again. It seems to be a popular subject, but sadly for me, not enough conflict to keep me engaged in a story.

And news of my own: I finished the website It’s All Kids’s Play (dot ca) last week and have been listing activities on the blog. Be sure to check them out. There are over 700 activities waiting for your kids to try out!

If you are looking at an easy, fun way to improve your writing, check out RWA’s list of online classes. There are a handful of great, helpful classes being offered each month for reasonable prices. And they are great. I’ve taken two and am signed up for two more. You don’t have to be an RWA member, nor do you have to write romance to get something out of their classes. Very recommended!

And last but not least, some depressing news if you were ‘delusional’ as Konrath would say, and thought you’d make a mint being a writer. Thanks to Nathan Bransford for breaking it down for us aspiring-in-the-dark writers. Now I know I’m really going to have to work hard to sell those books when I get published!

Okay, I can’t really leave you on that depressing note! Let’s think of something fun, like make your own superhero! Yay! Thanks to agent Kate Schafer Testerman and her blog followers for this one.

Enjoy!

Hero Jean

This is SO COOL!

This is me, I’m a super-hero now:

Isn’t that SO COOL! I got to make her, er, I mean, me. If you want to be a super-hero too, check it out. It’s way better than working. I, er, I mean. It’s great to do during a coffeebreak….

Later Note: My daughter joined the hero forces:

Since the family that saves the world together, stays together, here’s my husband:

Check out the brain on that guy.

Unfortunately at this time, our cats could not join the Oram Family World Saving Forces (aka OFWSF).

It’s All Kid’s Play Website

It’s up!

The It’s All Kid’s Play (dot ca) is now up and running. If you’ve checked out the blog, you’ll find that the website is simply a bigger version of the blog.

So if you have kids or know somebody with kids, pass the link(s) along.

What is ‘It’s All Kid’s Play’? Basically it is over 700 things for kids to do to prevent the dreaded two words “I’m bored” from escaping your child’s mouth. The site is totally free and sports activities from the rules to forgotten games such as ‘Red Rover’ to instructions for crafts such as ‘Make a Grass Hair man’ to car ride games like ‘Round-Up’ to general silliness like ‘Wiggle your toes in cold, wet noodles’. The site also has a jokes page, ‘other links’ page and a book recommendation page.

So stop on by and enjoy!

The Problem With Working From Home: Issue 4

Tech support.

Yeahhhhhh. This means YOU are the one responsible for making sure things are backed up. That your security software is up-to-date and if your email program suddenly starts marking one email IP address as SPAM, it means YOU get to be the one sitting on hold to talk to your email/Internet provider. It means you have to do the updates for your software. It means you have to install everything. It means if something breaks, you go to the store and buy a replacement.

In essence, you have to be freaking Jack of All Trades to work at home somewhat successfully. Either that or you have to have enough money to pay others to be the ‘brains’.

Really, it isn’t that bad, but it does take time out of one’s day. And even though I spent around an hour trying to resolve an email issue last night–you know the kind where you struggle with it until bedtime, eventually say ‘whatever’ and when you get up in the morning, it has fixed itself. Yeah, that kind–anyway, even though I did that, I still love working at home and am more than happy to figure out tech issues as they arise.  (Okay, maybe not quite ‘more than happy’.)

What are you work from home issues?

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon to the Internet near you…

The It’s All Kid’s Play website. The site is just about done which means <drumroll, please> the website will be LIVE on Monday!

What is ‘It’s All Kid’s Play’ you may ask? Well, conveniently it is pretty much what the name says. It’s kid’s play! A few years ago I wrote down over 700 things that are easy, economical things to do with your kids. Your child says they are bored, you whip out the list and find something exciting for them to do. There are over 30 categories ranging from arts and crafts, to games, to car ride activities to tricky business to food fun to outside activities to… Let me put it this way, there is a pile to do.

If you are interested in a sample of what’s coming down the pipe, check out the It’s All Kid’s Play blog. Share the link with some kids or parents that you know or even try out some of the activities yourself.

Enjoy!

The Problem of Working From Home: Issue 3

The third issue I have with doing the job of my dreams (and involves working from home, which is in short: awesome) has to do with God.

No, not God Himself (he’s welcome to stop by anytime), but his cronies. The door-to-door salespeople that arrive on his behalf. Yeah, them. I am ALWAYS home when they come by to sell me ‘the word’. At first it was amusing because I got to ask all these questions I’ve always been curious about. Like do they pay to go on their missions? Yes. (It is quite expensive.) Although the church helps them out. Yes, they get use of a car. (Which I might add is pretty nice and always meticulously clean.) They only stay in one place for about 6 months or so before they are shipped off to another place/country. It was really quite interesting. But now my questions have been answered and every 4-6 months a new crew comes to the door to see if I want to have more conversations. Which is fine. They are nice and actually, ever since I asked if they could vacuum in reply to “is there anything else we can do for you today?”, they have been making themselves a tad more scarce. Sad really. I was only joking.

It is the two old ladies who cram flyers through my door that you really need to watch out for. They act all sweet and nice and try to lure me to their church with the promise of cookies. They stand too close and force flyers into your hand. They prey on politeness. They ask you questions that you can’t answer without sounding religious–thus creating an opening for you to be forced to attend their church. I swear they get points for everyone they manage to haul in. Their motivation is alarming and it’s almost creepy how manipulative they are. You have to be so firm it borders on rude. And they are just two innocent looking little old ladies. Trust me, they aren’t. I even know their car. My daughter can’t figure out why I crouch on the floor and peek through the blinds to see if it is them or just UPS when someone hits the doorbell in the afternoon.

It’s to the point where I try and screen my door calls, but so far, it doesn’t work very well. The other day, I ignored the door. Not a good call on my part. It was the power company to warn me that they were going to turn off the power to change our meter. And yes, I was using electronics. They don’t like it when they suddenly lose power.

Still, it is better than the sales calls I used to get at work in the library. It was never the good companies calling to offer me up to 60% off their titles.

The Problem of Working From Home: Issue 2

Accounting.

So other than the issue of not being paid (yet) for the work I do at home, there is the accounting issue. I have decided that 2008 is the year my writing career becomes a ‘business’. That means I need to do taxes for my business. That means I have to figure out all those receipts I kept and what sort of expenses they were. The income part of the equation is really easy. Zero. (That’s also why I am not hiring an accountant.) 

I don’t mind plugging away at numbers or tinkering with tax software. It should be an interesting experience and I will diligently ignore that fear that I will somehow mess up and end up owing the federal government more money than I have.

Good times. Anybody have any tips or software advice?

The Problem of Working From Home: Issue 1

Many people work from home, myself included. Honestly, it is pretty great. You can adjust your schedule to fit your needs and there is no commute. All you have to do is roll out of bed and bang, you are at work, listening to music as loud as you please, eating breakfast over your keyboard.

However, working from home is not without its flaws. For example the biggest issue I have is this:

Issue 1 With Working From Home: There is NO janitor.

Yes, that’s right. Those who work ‘on site’ may have to commute to their office, but at the end of their work day an invisible cleanup gnome arrives and empties their garbage, vacuums all their snack crumbs from under their chair and wipes the dried cup rings from every workspace surface. The bathrooms are miraculously restocked with TP that you did not have to trek out to buy. You didn’t even have to strain your brain figuring out which is the best price and how on earth you are out, yet again. Heck, you don’t have to even restock the TP in the dispenser because there are these amazing never-ending rolls that are always at the ready for your wiping needs. There is even a backup roll, always at the ready. The water splashes on the mirror above the sink miraculously vanish as if the mirror is enchanted with some sort of splash expiry system. There is even a nice big jug of nicely cooled water always in the dispenser thingy just waiting for you to get thirsty.

Ah, I tell you. A janitor sure would be nice.