Alec Nevala-Lee offers a good argument on the importance of research in writing a novel. Whether you’re trying to develop a strong and plausible sense of place, or you need to prove that the suicide of character A was really a murder, you need to do your research. If you don’t, your readers will find you out and they won’t be happy :)
Author: Marie A Bailey
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I’m not really a gadget geek. Really, I like to keep things simple. I like the simplicity of picking up a book and leafing through its pages. Still, several years ago, I became smitten by e-book readers.
I don’t remember how the love affair began. It was the early 2000s and discussions about ebooks and ebook readers were slowly making their way into the mainstream. Somewhere, somehow I got wind of a Gemstar eBook reader that I could purchase online for roughly $99 (or $149 for a color version). I opted for the black and white version, wanting to keep things simple. And thus the affair began.
Gemstar GEB 1150 My Gemstar is a solid 22 ounces, about the size of a paperback, with a grip on the left side that makes it easy to hold with one hand. It has a touch screen, a stylus specifically for navigating the “Bookshelf” and two buttons on the left side for paging through books. It has about 8 MB of memory and I also use a smart media disk of 128 MB. On my Gemstar, I have contemporary books such as Newjack by Ted Conover, classics such as Les Miserables by Hugo, and lesser-known works such as The Amateur by Richard Harding Davis. I must have purchased the Gemstar around 2003 because I also have a few articles from the New York Review of Books saved there from that year.
Alas, within a few short years, support for the Gemstar evaporated entirely: no technical support, no online bookstores dedicated to the Gemstar. The flame had gone out of the affair.
And, yet there was still a spark. A few years later, on a camping trip, my husband and I huddled together in our small tent, on a dark windy night. I pulled out my Gemstar and read parts of Newjack to him until he was ready for sleep. I often said then and I’ll say it again now that the portability of an ebook reader is its greatest advantage. I had a long list of books for my husband to choose from that night, and I could not have backpacked all those books into camp. While the Gemstar was my first love, it may also be my last. I have since bought a 3rd-Gen Kindle (right before Amazon came out with the Fire and substantially dropped the price … damn you, Amazon!) But I missed the expanded memory that I had with my Gemstar, the touch screen, the ability to add books and articles of various formats. I liked the Kindle at first but now it’s primarily an overpriced word game player.
Then I got an iPad 2 which I bought with some hard-earned second job money and found (oh, crap!) that I could have just put the Kindle app on my iPad and been done with it. I love the touch screen and would read books or catch up with news on the iPad during my lunch hour. But still, I wasn’t satisfied. I was itching for something simpler, something more ebook dedicated, something I could read in bed without the lights on, without an LCD burning my eyes out. I have read review after review after review comparing the Kindle with the Nook with the Kobo with the iPad. Although we have a Barnes & Noble in town, I was hesitate to buy a Nook. B&N may not be as big as Amazon, but, bleeding heart liberal that I am, I wanted something more “indie.”
In April I purchased a Kobo Glo. I had found good reviews of the device, it’s capacity for storage, various ebook formats, and its “night light.” Unfortunately I had to buy it online since the one independent bookstore in my town didn’t carry it. Here’s where the blues comes in: I can’t get the wireless to work, no matter what we do (reset, factory reset, unsecure our network, secure our network). The device doesn’t always recognize the memory card, and the touch screen can be a little quirky. I’m using Calibre to download and add books outside the Kobo BookStore, but that can be a little squirrelly too. And even though I thought I had thoroughly vetted the Kobo, I’ve since learned from Calibre that “The Kobo has very buggy firmware” (from their manual).
Sigh. When my Kobo works, it’s wonderful, and I have enjoyed using it to read at night. Nobody is disturbed by the gentle light around the edges of the screen, and my eyes don’t get fried. Yet, today it took several attempts to transfer a bundle of new books from Calibre to my Kobo. Admittedly, I may have not been syncing correctly. All these gadgets seem so sensitive to how they are handled. Even some of the apps on my iPad are having hiccups following the latest system update.
My Gemstar and I never had such problems. To remind myself of how advanced technology was, I’m recharging my Gemstar and recharging our affair.
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On the trail at Chimney Rock, Point Reyes National Seashore Park, California
July 2012It’s been a week since I submitted my final word count to Camp NaNoWriMo and my brain still feels as empty as this great expanse of sky. I’ve written little since: mostly comments, an attempt at poetry during a downturn in my mood, and the ubiquitous note-keeping I do at my day job. I had thought of planning to edit one or both of the novels I’ve written in the past 6 months. Remember, they are both first drafts so editing will open the opportunity (and challenge) of rewriting. But … always there is a but … my physical environment is suffering from neglect and my other projects are demanding their due.
For one, I’m engaged in The Knitting Guild Association’s (TKGA’s) Master Hand Knitting Program, Level 1. For those of you interested in such endeavors, here’s a link: http://www.tkga.com/?page=AboutTKGAMasters
I actually had completed Level 1 almost 20 years ago, started Level 2 and then just quit. I am an avid knitter and have been knitting for over 40 years. I can also sew and crochet, but knitting has always defined me. I’ve made everything from baby blankets to cardigans to socks to shawls to scarves to pullovers. As the years go by, my knitting has become simpler, except for the socks and a venture into Entralec.
In recent years, I’ve resisted patterns like cardigans that require lots of finishing. Even with socks, I prefer to knit toe-up two-at-a-time because that method requires the least amount of planning and finishing. So why am I enrolled in the Level 1 Master program again? (Beside the fact that after 20 years, the association has updated its standards and requirements.) In truth, because I thought if I ever attempt to sell my knitting, it might be helpful if I could be “certified” as a Master Knitter and for that, you need to complete all three levels of the Master program. But knitting is labor-intensive and selling would only work if I was willing to do it for free. And, once knitting becomes a job, the joy goes out of it for me.My writing is much like my knitting: I love the process (the knitting, the writing). I love the end product (the sweater, the novel), but I don’t like everything I have to do to get there (the sewing of seams, the editing). And, as with knitting, once the “fun” goes out of writing, so goes the writing.
After all these years of writing and knitting, I feel like I’m still discovering myself as a writer and a knitter. And I’m starting to let go of that urgency to “Be” something or someone, to define myself by someone else’s precepts. I’m a contrary student: I love to learn but I hate instructions. I love to find out something new, but I hate being told what to do.
Yet I intend to finish Level 1 of the Master program, even if I have to write a two-page, single-spaced report on blocking (really, is there that much to be said on blocking?). Level 2 will depend on how much of Level 1 I might be asked to re-do. And with my writing, it will be easier to simply create anew rather than rework what I already have. We’ll see. For now, I have some knitting to finish.
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Recently I moved from a small cubicle to a corner office with enough wall space for a mini-art gallery. Since I’m prohibited from painting the walls anything other than the dullest off-white, I found a supplier of removable vinyl wall decals (www.popdecors.com) and proceeded to decorate.
You may note that cats are a big theme for me. I didn’t stop with decals though.
We bought this poster when we were in New Orleans last year; it reminds us of our cat Luisa. You can see the resemblance, can’t you?
And I like trees …
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A lovely meditation on dictionaries and how they help us write.
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Had to wait until the end of my work day, but am so happy to be posting my award!
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I am so done with Camp NaNoWriMo! Roughly 50,349 words completed as of last night ;) I say roughly because I used the opportunity to finish a previous novel so I had to add those words to the word count for my current novel which means I had to use a calculator because I’m a bit dyslexic with numbers and so the important thing is I made it to 50,000! And I actually have an ending with this novel. Yup, a beginning, middle and an end. That’s no small feat for me since endings are something I have always struggled with.
Now that I am thoroughly exhausted with banging at my keyboard, I have callouses on my fingertips, my fingernails are totally ruined and my butt is in the shape of a chair seat (tonight’s yoga class will take care of that, I hope), now I have to go to my day job and stare at a computer for a minimum of 8 hours. Frankly, not something I’m really in the mood for, but now at least I won’t be distracted by trying to squeeze in a few words every time I run a query that takes more than 5 minutes to process :)
I want to thank the support of all my fellow bloggers and campers out there who have urged me on. I plan to take the next month to reacquaint myself with the wonders of WordPress and add more pages to my blog, catch up with the adventures of my fellow bloggers, and not do any writing (other than blogging). I need a break and I have so many other projects that need my attention. More on those things later.
For now, many thanks to all!
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Yea, I’ve made it past 40 thousand words (41,227, to be exact)! Now I can barely keep my eyes open and my throat is sore from begging my cats to just let me write a little bit more and then I will feed you! OK, maybe I wasn’t begging so much as yelling at them to leave me alone for just a few more minutes!
But I’m done for the night, and I hope this post makes sense because my brain is really fried. I admit, it will be so good to get this month behind me, and to take a break. I have to remind myself that most writers, published and otherwise, don’t try to write a novel in one month. I think it’s safe to say that most of them take more time than that :) But I know that at this point in my writing life, unless I have a deadline hanging over my head, it’s much too easy to put it off or to talk myself out of writing because, you know, that story idea really sucks anyway. I am my own worst critic, and the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that it does force me to write without thinking too hard.
I am thinking of posting my writing eventually, not just the novels I’ve been working on, but also my short stories. I actually consider myself to be more of a short story writer. Novel writing intimidates me. Perhaps that can be my break from NaNoWriMo, setting up pages within my blog for writing. We’ll see.
Anyway, a big thanks to all my followers and fellow bloggers who are participating in Camp NaNoWriMo (or not) and who continue to inspire and encourage me.
Peace to every one of you. Namaste.
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What’s this? Another award for moi? I was dumbstruck to receive two awards in as many days. I have to give a BIG thanks to Lissa at http://thelissachronicles.wordpress.com/. She kindly nominated me for this award, and I am truly honored. I love Lissa’s blog and I love that she’s a Supernatural fan :) Without further ado, let me proceed with the rules for this award:
- Include the award’s logo in a post or on your Blog.
- Link to the person who nominated you.
- Answer 10 questions about yourself.
- Nominate 10 Bloggers.
- Link your nominees to the post and comment on their Blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
Since I am new to this award, I’ll answer some of the same questions that Lissa did.
- Favorite color: Pink; but I wear a lot of black and gray and white … go figure.
- Favorite animal: Cat (domestic)
- Favorite number: 3; I have 3 cats and that seems like an ideal number since I’ve cared for as few as one and as many as six at one time.
- Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Earl Grey tea with a touch of milk and a packet of Equal; it’s what gets me going in the morning.
- Favorite alcoholic drink: dirty gin martini; I had my first one ever two years ago in New Orleans and loved it, and so far, New Orleans is the only place where I’ve had dirty gin martinis
- Prefer Facebook or Twitter: Twitter these days; I have a Facebook account but it’s not as much as fun as it used to be.
- My passion(s): My husband, my cats, my writing, my friends, my knitting
- Prefer getting or giving presents: I prefer giving. I have everything I ever could need or want.
- Favorite city: San Francisco; I only lived there 3 1/2 years, but it feels like home for me whenever I go back.
- Favorite TV show: Supernatural; the boys just get better as they get older :)
Drum roll for my 10 nominees:
http://shareenayoub.wordpress.com/
http://thejennymacbookblog.wordpress.com/
http://myownfantasys.wordpress.com/
http://mrsfletcherscloset.wordpress.com/
http://writingsofamrs.wordpress.com/
I notified every one of the nominees. Life is good! Thanks again, Lissa, and thanks to everyone who follows my blog ;)
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Wow, I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Valeriu dg Barbu (http://valeriudgbarbu.wordpress.com/) who writes truly lovely and provocative poetry. I am honored. The rules for this award, as I’m sure many of you know, is to: (1) thank the blogger who nominated me and provide a link to his blog, which I have done; (2) nominate 15 other bloggers for the award, which I will do shortly; and (3) reveal 7 things about myself.
(1) Again, thank you to Valeriu for the kindness of nominating me.
(2) Here are 15 bloggers that I now nominate (and I will try to inform each of them of the nomination as quickly as I can ;)):
http://ericjohnbaker.wordpress.com
http://literarylandofalysia.wordpress.com/
http://thelissachronicles.wordpress.com/
http://rickmallery.wordpress.com/
http://sarahcradit.wordpress.com/
http://spilledxink.wordpress.com/
http://kmoonstone.wordpress.com/
http://expateyeonlatvia.wordpress.com/
(3) Finally, seven things about myself:
- I’m comfortable with making lists
- I spent the first 21 years of my life in central New York state, where there are more cows than people (at least there were before the dairy farms folded)
- I drove cross-country to Oakland, CA, in a 1966 Dodge van, in the late 70s, a truly amazing feat for a serious introvert
- I left my heart in San Francisco and eventually moved to the South, to an undisclosed location
- I have now lived in the South for more years than my original birthplace. I’m sure that means something but I don’t know what (or don’t want to know)
- I left my heart in San Francisco … oh, I said that already. OK, I want to move back to San Francisco before I die
- Yup, I’m old enough to be most of y’all’s grandmother, but I work hard at keeping my figure and staying sexy at 55 (whoops, TMI!!)
Disclaimer: At the time of this posting, I’ve managed to only notify half of my nominees because my DSL is tired and wants to go to bed … needs its beauty sleep, I guess:( Will try again tomorrow!
Marie at 1 Write Way 