The Spread of Ebooks….

IN THE NEWS:  Sesame Workshop is launching its first eBook collection as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. Impelsys, a global leader in electronic content delivery solutions, will be the exclusive licensee/seller of Sesame Street eBook content on www.sesamestreet.org/ebooks. A selection of Sesame Street eBooks are now available to read online for free, with additional titles to be added in January.

Through iPublishCentral Sesame Street titles will be available in one or more formats:

• eBook – User-friendly and dynamic flip books.
• Audio eBooks – Look and listen to stories. Featuring word by word highlighting to help young readers connect visuals to word sounds. Select titles will include Sesame Street character voices.
• Interactive eBooks – Look and listen to stories, plus engage in activities to enhance reading and learning skills. Titles in this format will be available starting in January.

Hmmm….I’m well past the age where I can glom on to Sesame Street, but today’s news still brings a huge smile to my face.  I love ebooks.  The more they catch on, the more readily available devices will become (i.e., less expensive too).  Getting children hooked on e-reading makes sense.  Someday I may even let my kids use my KINDLE — oops that won’t happen anytime soon. 

My ‘to do’ list keeps growing.  I have yet to purchase a single Christmas gift.  Not one.   Nada.  Normally I’d be three quarters done by this point in December.  YIKES.  Sadly, I’m not in the mood.  I can’t even bring myself to buy cards.  This doesn’t bode well for my nearest and dearest.  Illness in the family makes this an emotionally shaky holiday for me.  I’ll be the nut running around on the 24th buying anything that’s been tossed aside by other shoppers

Taking an unexpected break…

It’s been a looooong week!  Life just got more crazy and I will likely be away for a bit.  I’m guessing I won’t be back in front of my computer until next weekend.  Have a great week…hug those closest to you extra hard!!!

Industry Angst

So much has been swirling around the romance writing world.  Harlequin announced in the span of a week two new ventures…one was met with quiet excitement (Carina) and the other open hostility (Harlequin Horizons).  Most of the online community has been vocal.  I’m a fan of Harlequin – in that I think they have historically provided both readers and writers with a huge spectrum of opportunity.  My opinion of their new programs doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot, so I think I’ll keep them to myself for a change!

Another blog favorite Jane of Dear Author posted a recent piece related to RWA  and her membership.  I’m a BIG fan of Dear Author and I have been turned on to countless writers via her comprehensive reviews.  Jane rocks in terms of her support of this industry.  She opines openly and honestly…not all of her feedback is sunshine and roses.  But she is a huge advocate of the romance genre.  Again, I’m not going to waste space here sharing my personal views of RWA’s decision not to renew her membership…but dang!!!

Off to the corner to quietly sob…can’t we all just get along?  (insert eye roll here)

If you see Uncle Gus today….

 

Hop on this virtual bus

And wish dear old ‘Uncle Gus’

Much happiness and joy

For this special boy

Is celebrating a milestone

That causes lesser men to groan

But he’s so damn nifty

That even turning fifty

Gives him reason to cheer

‘Cause he gets better each year!

Monday Morning…Reasons to Smile

For the past six days my kids have been fighting a very nasty flu bug.  Fever.  Chills.  Cough.  Pretty much the whole miserable package.  Today they faced the awful realization that they had to return to school.  Although neither child felt fabulous, I figured every additional day home was just prolonging the inevitable.  Ugh!  Yes, I felt terrible.  Yes, I’ve been holding my breath waiting to see if I get a call from the school nurse.  Maybe it’s the season but there’s been a lot more reasons to frown than to smile in my neck of the woods.   Stress is leaking out of my pores.  (If you’re scratching your head wondering why this diatribe feels like a disconnet from the title of my post just hang in there a moment longer).  The truth is there is also a heck of a lot of reasons for me to be smiling today:

1. My fabulous Samhain Editor, Tera, is kicking off a new contest over at her blog.   It’s no secret that I LOVE MY KINDLE.  Really it’s like a special friend that I want everyone to love.  Here’s a chance to win one of your own.  Head over to Tera’s blog starting today and find out the details:  http://editortera.wordpress.com/
2. My house (the one we’re selling) is in the middle of a bathroom remodel.  The team working on it is doing an amazing job which makes this chick very, very happy.  Yah, I know I won’t be here to enjoy it after we close on our new house but it’s still fun to watch the transformation.
3. Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  In the midst of chaos it’s nice to look forward to a family holiday.  This year we’re headed to Boston to be with my ‘people’…so I’m totally psyched for next week.  Leaving the packing, cleaning, and painting behind for a few days sounds awesome to me right now.
4. Writing…last week I actually snuck in some writing.  HUGE RELEIF.  I’ve been letting everything else take priority and mentally it was taking its toll on me.  Now my production output wasn’t enormous but at least I moved the manuscript forward.
5. My husband’s back from Las Vegas.  Yippee.  His business trip wrapped up on Saturday and it’s nice to have another adult around the house.  Sick kids + contractors = headache

While I’m in this blessedly happy mood I’m going to tackle the laundry.  Have a great Monday!!!!

News from Harlequin…

Harlequin announced a new venture yesterday.  All I can say…is it sounds pretty darn cool!  Details below from their official press release:

Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, announced today the launch of Carina Press(TM), a digital-only publishing house that will operate independently of their traditional publishing businesses. 

Carina Press (http://www.carinapress.com) is a digital-only publishing house whose eBooks will be sold direct to consumers through the Carina Press Web site and numerous third-party Web sites. Carina Press will publish a wide range of women’s fiction — romance, erotica, science fiction, mystery, family sagas, choose your own adventures, horror, thriller and more, including every conceivable subgenre of these categories. 

Angela James, formerly of Samhain Publishing, has signed on as Executive Editor.   I imagine we’ll be hearing quite a bit about this launch throughout blogland!

Bad, bad, blogger…

Actually I’ve been a bad everything these past few weeks.  You know it’s bad when you stay awake half the night worrying about all of the things you didn’t accomplish in a timely fashion.  I was at a charity benefit Saturday night where several people asked about my writing…I quietly excused myself and made a bee line for the bar.  There’s been no writing.  No reading.  No exercise.  No phone call to my brother who celebrated a birthday yesterday (but I was thinking of him, honestly).  My fingernails are gone (I had to hide my hands at the charity ball — cause every woman there had a lovely manicure whereas I had ragged stubs coated with OPI).

I think I’m too old to suffer through the moving process again.  We’re on our second dumpster.  I’m literally throwing out everything that isn’t nailed to the floor (including the kitchen sink).  My arms hurt, my legs are bruised, and I’m consuming way too much coffee.  Tomorrow I have a plumber coming to demolish my guest bathroom.  I also have a flooring specialist coming to measure three rooms.  And I’m scheduled to read in my older son’s classroom.   And I’m so very tempted to just hop on a plane.  Seriously!  My husband is heading to Vegas on Wednesday and he asked if I wanted to tag along on his business trip.  Now I always want to go…but this time I almost said the heck with my responsibilites.  Forget the fact that we have contractors scheduled for the whole week.  Forget the fact that our boys have birthday parites to attend this weekend.  Forget the meetings I have on Thursday and Friday.  Escaping to Vegas sounds so very, very tempting.

But I’ll be here.  Complaining no doubt about all the things that are not getting done in my world.  Did I mention every single one of my neighbors spent this past weekend raking leaves?  The town swept them up from the curb this morning.  My lawn is now the only one on the block that looks like @#(!.  

Please use the comment section to chastise me for being so annoying.  There’s nothing worse than listening to someone complain.  Off to conquer my basement which frankly smells as bad as I do (just kidding).

Reality sets in….

When I was young, foolish and in better physical condition I used to think moving was a kick.  Ordering a dumpster and packing boxes made my pulse race — it was the whole vision of a new place to call home.  My husband and I have purchased four homes in thirteen years (not to mention the apartments we lived in during our in-between periods).  Now we are gearing up for yet another move…

This time my pulse isn’t racing quite as much with excitement.  See, it’s not as easy anymore.  Two kids.  Three dogs.  Two frogs.  One snail.  One husband.  And eighty tons of junk….Ugh!!!!!  Don’t get me wrong.  I absolutely love the place we are in the process of purchasing.  It’s on a great piece of land and has a lot of space to spread out (over two acres and 3300 square feet of living space).   Now I just need a huge boost of energy.  Packing.  Cleaning.  Painting.  Dealing with contractors at both houses. 

That bottle of Advil I put away last week is now back firmly in the palm of my hand.   My plans for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which I have done in the past have been wiped off my calendar.  From now until the end of December it’s all about my move.

First, I need a quick nap.  Just thinking about this is exhausting.

A Captive Audience…

Main Entry: cap·tive

Pronunciation: \ˈkap-tiv\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin captivus, from captus, past participle of capere

Date: 14th century

3 : being such involuntarily because of a situation that makes free choice or departure difficult <a captive audience

Whew….I survived a visit to my son’s second grade classroom.  While I LOVE to be involved in school activities, I suffer from pre-anxiety jitters prior to almost every event.  Today I presented a mini session (30 minutes) to the classroom on writing stories.  My son’s teacher (who totally rocks, by the way) had asked me to come in and talk to the group because of my own experiences with trying to write a novel.  They were a captive audience (heck, they couldn’t walk out)…I’m just not sure they were captivated.  Frankly the kids are so darned polite it’s difficult to gauge their true reactions.  One thing I do know is that my son will have feedback for me after school.  It won’t be pretty.  Inevitably he’ll point out a stumble I made or a joke that fell flat.  I’ll thank him for his constructive criticism and walk away vowing to steer clear of elementary schools in the future.  By next month we’ll both have forgotten our embarrassment and I’ll be ready to go back and volunteer again!!!!

Taking a break from Advil….

The space between my ears has been in permanent pound mode the past week.  Grrrr…my husband actually picked up two huge bottles of Advil for me on Sunday, suggesting I carry one with me at all times   And I am not a pill popper (they’re a last resort when my allergies kick into high gear).   Anyway, I have much to be grateful for…my mother-in-law had an unexpected health scare yesterday, but things are looking up today.  Thank goodness, because this woman has been through ten times what most people will ever have to face in one lifetime. 

Hmmm….read on for more happy news!

 

I just found out that my book Ready to Take a Chance Again finaled in a Best of the Best ebook Contest sponsored by editor/writing coach Jennifer.  Please stop by her blog and take a look:  http://www.editorjennifer.com/ .  This comes as a bit of a SHOCK because I’ve been reading the blurbs of the previously announced finalists and well…uh, I didn’t think I had a shot in heck!  SO THANK YOU EDITOR JENNIFER!!!  A difficult week just got a lot brighter!