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Holiday Sale #2


Passions-Revenge-cover1-217x300For the holidays the prices have dropped on 2 of my books so that more people can purchase them. Visit Amazon today and support the starving writer…

Visit Amazon to purchase Passion’s Revenge for just $3.

 
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Posted by on November 19, 2022 in Business of Writing

 

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Holiday Sale!


Project Stowaway cover-final  For the holidays the prices have dropped on 2 of my books so that more people can purchase them. Visit Amazon today and support the starving writer…

Visit Amazon to purchase Project Stowaway for just $3.

 
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Posted by on November 19, 2022 in Business of Writing

 

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I Need Something to Read….Give Me My Raisin Bran


Let’s talk for a moment about reading and the importance of “what” you read. I would love to tell you that I am such a reader that I do so every…single…day. But, alas, that would be a lie. Often times there is so much going on around here that I’m lucky I recognize another book, let alone read it. I often try and go to bed an hour earlier so I can squeeze in some reading but I get in my PJ’s, get all snuggled in the blankets, open my Kindle and promptly fall asleep….ZZZ’s – 1, reading – 0….

We live in a really fast paced world that demands seconds at a time rather than minutes or hours. We are committed to pleasing everyone else and so we end up with the dreaded “schedule”. I hate having a schedule, but, if I didn’t I wouldn’t accomplish anything at all. Sadly, these days I am scheduling my reading too. Don’t get me wrong, as writers, I believe that we are compulsive readers to some degree and so we can’t help but read every sign we pass, the occasional magazine, no matter where it is sitting and the Cheerios box. (or for me, the Raisin Bran…fiber people…fiber…) But these things, while still technically reading, aren’t the kind of reading a healthy writer needs to do.

A healthy writer needs to be able to see the work other writers do. We need to be connection to the literary world. (and that includes the “vanity” stuff…for the record, I hate that distinction. Like somehow being a popular fiction writer makes you less of a literary personality…pe-shaw!)  I know that for me, reading is a bit of an escape and it often helps me refocus on my own work, especially if I am reading a writer that I personally think is great. Reading also helps me hone my skills subconsciously. I have often found myself having trouble with a particular scene, only to read someone else’s work and then suddenly be inspired to solve my own issue. In this way, writers are kind of a very large team….we help each other, although we often are unaware of having actually done so.

So I said all that…to say this…reading is so much more important than we give it credit for. And while reading the cereal box is still reading…we still need to make time for ACTUAL reading. If you must, schedule it in, sort of like you do exercise. You know you have to exercise so you reluctantly schedule in that half hour and then you end up feeling so much better after you go through with it….reading can sort of be the same way. Sure it is one of those things that is easy to cut out of your time crunch…but just because it is easy, doesn’t mean you should necessarily do it.

 

 

© The Writer’s Advice, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 
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Posted by on June 7, 2023 in Writing, Writing Tools

 

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That’s it! I am not Reading Ever Again!


No silly…not me…but recently I had a writer friend tell me this because he was so outraged that Kindles and Nooks have replaced actual books for a lot of people. He was outraged…outraged in the way you should be when someone torches your beach home…it was more than a little overboard in my opinion.

So what is my opinion when it comes to Kindles, Nooks, iPads and the like? Should e-readers replace paper books? This is a question I get asked all the time. I guess because I am a writer it is supposed to make me some kind of paper book loving radical but it doesn’t….e-books are kind of exciting as far as I am concerned…if you don’t think so…you might be old….or just plain stubborn.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a certain loyalty when it comes to books. I grew up reading those little bound paper collections, often in the dark, after bedtime, with a flashlight; I love books. But let’s call the e-readers what they are…advancement…the future of books…not the end of books. I have never understood the hollering folks are doing about electronic books being the end of books in general. I don’t know when the last time you picked one up was, but my iPad and my Kindle (yes I have both) use a program that, when I turn them on, tada….the novel that comes up looks like…oh my…a book!  E-readers aren’t killing reading unless all those naysayers who claim loyalty to paper products stop reading because of a stubborn makes-no-sense idea that somehow reading on anything else is not reading. Seriously….

So how do I really feel about e-readers? Well….

  • I can carry around my entire library any time I want.
  • I have a backlight on my e-readers so I don’t have to worry about book lights at night.
  • I can see a book while I am out or be discussing one at dinner and instantly purchase it.
  • E-readers are getting better and better at what they do as they are being developed and that’s cool.
  • I have the Kindle software on my iPad, my computer, my phone, my Galaxy Tab…oh yeah…and my Kindle…so I can read anywhere, anytime.

I think technology is cool and anything that lights up or makes my life easier is okay with me. I am also handicapped (in a wheel chair most of the time) so being able to carry a Kindle as opposed to four paperbacks is great! Do I still buy paper books? Yes I do, because there are still some publishers who aren’t converting to e-readers. Do I think that e-readers are going to kill reading or hurt writers? No, absolutely not…I think that there are some bugs to work out but in the end I think that writers are going to enjoy a wider audience because of e-publishing. I also think that we, as a society, are going to be subjected to a lot more crap writing but that’s the price you pay for being more accessible.

Grow people and stop seeing technology as the big bad of the reading and writing world. Instead seize the opportunity and run with it….get your work out there and get it into the hands of more people…it’s simple math the way I see it…better technology=more readers=more money…..simple.

 

© The Writer’s Advice, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 

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