.

Finally, a contest for me. Over on this writer’s website, Nothing But Bonfires, she is having a contest. If you have a middle name, you can enter to win a Nintendo DS Lite. Not totally sure what exactly it is, but my nephew has one, so that means it must be cool, new and probably costs more than I would be comfortable shelling out for a game system. Oh yeah, and if you don’t have a middle name, you can enter–just say what you wish it was. Wahoo!

This contest brings a few things to mind for me. First, if you wish you had a middle name, why the hell don’t you give yourself one? For a few bucks, you can even make it legal. I know this because I did it when I was 19. I didn’t actually give myself a middle name as so much as gave myself a first name, but that is a rather long and somewhat convoluted story. (Not really, but there is some back story involved.) Second, if you are a writer, the comments section is GOLD! Hilarious, wondrous gold! I mean at this point there are almost 500 entries. Yep, my odds of winning decline by the minute. Anyway, there is all sorts of interesting rants, ideas, voices, names and complaints. It is great! There is even some woman who needed 30 years to embrace ‘Jean’ as her middle name. Give me a break and suck it up honey!

Tags: Internet, just goofing by Jean
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I was reading Publishers Lunch email today and got a little ticked off.

You see, Stephenie Meyer, a writer of a beloved series, had someone post a draft of her upcoming novel on the Internet, spoiling her project. If that doesn’t piss you off, well then I guess whatever, stop reading and go steal some music or something. Seriously, who would do that? How would they even benefit from that? It’s malicious. Plus, they could get their ass sued big time. (And I kind of hope they do just as an example to all those keyboard collar thieves.)

You might recognize this popular one.

Basically, what happened is someone was trusted with a copy of the draft (it is part of a series) and they posted it on the Internet or did something that allowed someone else to post it. It has been copied and sent all over the place. It cannot be retrieved. Meyer is putting the project on hold. I mean what is the point? A less-than-perfect version has been released. Fans have read it. Who is going to pay for it should it be published? Now her story and her name have been tarnished. How embarrassing would it be to have something that is half-written released for all to read (and critique)? She’s not going to benefit financially, just get her hard work trod upon, her time wasted. It’s like a model going out in a fashion show with only half the designers stitches done on the outfit. Which, actually could kind of work seeing as most runway stuff is a little odd. So, bad example, but I think you know what I’m getting at.

To place this in light of today’s Internet world where everyone is like, “Hey, I didn’t steal it. It was just sitting there waiting for me to download it for free.” Right. And that windshield bug juice sitting out by the gas pumps is just sitting there waiting for you to take it. They wouldn’t put it there if they didn’t want people to take it. What we are seeing on the Internet is displaced responsibility and moral justification. Compile that with the attitude of: ”Why would I pay for it when it is right there for free?” Well, because somewhere there is some poor soul trying to make a living from this thing that has been stolen, reproduced and left for the taking without regard for their rights, that’s why.

I have a highly educated acquaintance and the other day we were talking about movies. I was trying to convince her that renting through Zip.ca is the way to go. But she wasn’t ‘buying’ it because she and her equally-educated husband download any movies they want to watch off the Internet–for free. She doesn’t think it is wrong because the movie companies make enough money as it is. I asked her about the writers. What about them? They don’t get paid much. She changed the subject to how her husband does it, not her. So I asked about opening your computer up to viruses. Apparently they just overhauled their computer. (Virus, I suspect.) What about her kids? What lesson is she teaching them either directly or indirectly? Stealing is okay if it is on the Internet and someone else took the first step?

To get back to Stephenie Meyer, what about her right to earn a living off of her hard work? What about her rights to protect her original work? Just because it is sitting out there, it doesn’t mean we have to take it. I know, I know social groups and displaced responsibility because of all the others doing it or not doing it and the moral justification that stems from that. Well, isn’t it be time we did something? Isn’t it time we acted like an individual with our own set of morals and values when faced with a crowd of folks eager to ’shut it off’? Maybe we should all go read that draft (now on Meyer’s website) and send her our warm compliments and the $10.99 we would have spent to buy the novel had it not been spoiled.

What do you think?

Tags: Internet, authors by Jean
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Well folks, it is Friday again. Since I am having a ‘people who use other people suck’ kind of a day…let’s have some fun on the Internet. The Internet is fun and will never use you to make themselves a better mom.

There is a great quiz here which figures out which Disney Character you are. Guess who I am? I’m Goofy! No, really, the character Goofy. Isn’t that great! Here’s why: “Your alter ego is Goofy! You are fun [true] and great to be around [very accurate], and you are always willing to help others [also true]. You aren’t worried about embarrassing yourself [SO true], so you are one who is more willing to try new things[Bingo. You’ve got me pegged].” A close second for me is Peter Pan. I suppose I am a goofy person who doesn’t want to grow up, dammit. Then again, with questions like, “You like to walk around with no pants on” are always excellent indicators of a reliable and true quiz.

I tried the ‘Which Patronus [like in Harry Potter] Are You’ Quiz but all the spelling mistakes started to get to me and being asked if I was brave (for the 6th) time wore me down and by question #118, I gave up and wandered off. Apparently impatient folks like me don’t have patronuses.

Uh, okay. Apparently I am a rap song. The options were pop song, country song or rap song. And I’m a rap song. Maybe I should have said I liked mud and my grill or MTV.

Huh. If I were an infectious disease, I would be Syphilis. Attractive. I guess the fact that my ‘passions run high’ and ‘I never forget anything’ signed me up for this one. And this quote, is just funny, so I guess I will revel in my ‘disease’: “Your recent comeback tour is going well, especially since you stopped listening to your critics.” Ha. Ha.

I took the Super Powers quiz with disappointing results. My super power is ‘can stretch really far’. Big freaky deal.

Well, so long and I think I’ll just sit here and grab myself a new drink from the other room…

Tags: Internet, just goofing by Jean
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I love cool Internet toys!

And okay, the online test I took a few weeks ago did declare me a uber-geek, but still. This Gender Genie online toy is freaking cool!

What you do is paste 500 or more words into the box and it looks at the words and decides if the author is male or female. So, I took a 644 word section out of the middle of my last blog entry and pasted it in. The result: male. Female score was 1004 and the male score was 1054. I’m a boy?

Then I tried a section out of my chick lit story and guess what? I’m a girl! Okay, Allie is a girl. Out of 1082 words, the female score was 1287 and the male score was 1105. This was a section with both male and female dialogue but from a female point of view.

On a more female note, I tried putting in 613 words of dialogue between the two girl friends chatting about guys and ta-da. They are still girls with a female score of 839 and a male score of 680.

Even more interesting, I pulled a quick 96 words of dialogue belonging to a stiff-as-a-board-I-have-no-famale-sensitivity male character out of that same story and put it into the Gender Genie form. And guess what? He’s a boy! (Yes!) Male score was 175 and the female score was 4. It is hard to say if the score would be that slanted if I used 500 words, but either way, it is good to hear that I am making my males sound like males–although maybe a bit too much?

If you are curious about how they come up with male or female, here is some background from BookBlog’s site (which also contains a useful tip for writers):
“In the most basic terms, the computational linguists behind the algorithm, Koppel and Argamon, took a bunch of fiction and looked for trends based on gender. Using complicated formulas, they determined that male writers tended to write more about specific things like an apple, a book, or the car. In contrast, female writers wrote about connections to things like my apple, your book, or our car. The nouns themselves (apple, book, car) didn’t matter much but the preceding qualifier, whether an article (a, an, the) or possessive (my, your, our), did.”

 Try it out, it’s Fun with a capital ‘f’.

Tags: Internet, blogs, character development, just goofing, writing by Jean
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Back at the end of December, I joined the online community, Agent Query Connect. This has been fabulous for me. First of all, I don’t really know any local writers or aspiring writers. Second of all, I am not particularly close to any major centres where I can hang out with other writers or even join in on the events hosted by the writers guild I am a member of. Third, I am a little shy about the idea of talking about my writing face to face with ‘real’ people–although I am getting better. And fourth, I squeeze my writing in around my life–ideal for online communities, but not so much for real life communities that get upset if you bring your children along or arrive late or leave early.

Aside from these personal reasons, there are a zillion of professional reasons on why this community is awesome. First of all, there are a pile of people with diverse ideas, diverse backgrounds and a variety of helpfulness. Second, you can pop by as often as you can or desire. Third, you can ask any question and it is likely that someone has an answer. Fourth, you can get a pile of feedback on your own writing. Fifth, it is inspiring. Sixth, it allows you to make contact with other writers and eases the lonliness or isolation of many writers. Seventh, you may even meet an agent over there. Eighth, you can hear all sorts of good stuff before it is published (and possibly encourage the next BIG thing). Ninth, resources of all sorts! Tenth, there are some good laughs.

Are you getting the picture that this site is the best thing I’ve ever stumbled upon? I can’t believe how much this site has helped me grow in the past few months. I feel more confident in my writing, I’ve met other writers, I’ve got some critiques going and I’m finding all sorts of resources all the time. It’s great!

So then the other day I was editing an essay for my husband who was writing a paper on organisational behaviour within the teaching profession and I came across this description of an effective group’s features and it made me think of Agent Query Connect. Here’s the list:

No clear experts, problems are solved as group by dividing tasks among members
Members learn from each other and are willing to share their expertise with the group
Combined experience of the group is leveraged in a given situation
Tendency to make riskier or more creative and innovative decisions
Ability to overcome organisational weaknesses, especially in the area of professional development through helping each other to acquire new skills and expertise
Helpful for newcomers to the organisation
(Hunt, Osborn and Schermerhorn, 2005. Organisational Behaviour.)

The amazing thing is that all of these points describe what I have experienced over at Aqent Query Connect.
So, after reading this and you want to join, it is free–and better than most things you pay for–so go on over and join up. See you there!

Tags: Internet, writing by Jean
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Why it is dangerous to follow the links on Meg Cabot’s blog ( http://www.megcabot.com/diary/index.php) when you are trying to get some work done:

1. You end up laughing at some crazy kid using his cat as entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGkQkVQt7ak&feature=related

2. You end up laughing at a librarians blog and then trying to post your own comment, which doesn’t go through, so you give up.

http://librarianavengers.org/worship-2/

3. You discover Patrick Swayze has cancer. And then you move on.

4. You end up following a link to Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Ward-Cleaver-Jenny-Gardiner/dp/0505527472/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204826739&sr=8-1

5. And then you end up going to Chapters to find out what the book is actually about.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Sleeping-with-Ward-Cleaver-Jenny-Gardiner/9780505527479-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527sleeping+ward+claeaver%2527&sterm=sleeping+ward+claeaver+-+Books

6. And then you end up trying to figure out if Ward Cleaver is that TV character from that show you’ve never seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cleaver 

7. You follow a link to an author’s site and realise that there is just too much to read on the Internet and you will never get back to work, so close everything down again, promising yourself you will go look at it all again later.

http://www.thedebutanteball.com/ 

8. You end up writing a blog entry so you can share the crazy links.

And then you notice that Sting’s song ‘Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot’ is song number 666 on winamp’s playlist. I’m just saying. That’s all. I’m not implying that Sting is evil or anything. Or that your soul is going to pilot you straight to hell or anything. Really, I’m not. I’m sure it is just a quirky little coincidence.

Oh my god! It’s a sign!!!!!!!!!!!

(Kidding.)

Tags: Internet, just goofing by Jean
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