Dystopians

Love them. Don't know why.

I mean, why on earth would I use my "escape time" for reading about the end of the world, government take overs, and the destruction of the Earth itself? Maybe there's something about the fight against all odds (Hunger Games). Surviving in a literally collapsing world (Life as we Knew it).  Cheering for the underdog against the unseen (or very visible) enemy, especially when that person is one's self (Shatter Me and Divergent).

Maybe it's because the dystopian world is looking an awful lot like our own these days. Issues with our health, economy, environmental challenges, and the political unrest that continues to fuel writers' imagination. 1984 anyone? The Giver?

Or is it the other way around? Are books giving people the ideas about how to take over the world? :) Are we in fact fueling the inspiration for the many challenges we now face? It's been said that the power of writers is often underestimated. Makes one think...is it possible? Do we really have that much influence? In some cases, I would hope. It's what drives change. And the dystopian genre. The fight for good against evil. The will to survive.

Life.

What do you think?  Do writers have the power to change the world through our words? Or are we merely borrowing from  the age-old cycle of "life" itself. Or is it both?  And what are your favorite dystopians and why?

PS. Congratulations to Leah for winning the bookmark!  Thank you ALL for your helpful and inspiring comments!!!

Crochet, Contests, and Cutting up plot lines

My hands are always busy.

And despite being able to type 120 words per minute, I can only edit a document so fast.  Rearranging words takes A LOT more time.

Unlike crocheting, where you follow a specific pattern and at the end you're done. No rewrite. No change this or tweak that. In fact, you can't just pull a stitch out of an afghan and make it work. Trust me, I've tried. :) Yes, I've made some mistakes along the way and have had to stop to pull out stitches to fix it. And then moved on.

With books, that is harder to do. And it's not always wise to edit as you go. So much beauty comes from letting the story unfold and discovering some things you might not have otherwise. It's fantastic. But it can also be kind of messy when you're done and have to work even harder to make it look pretty.

So currently, I find myself editing the first book of a series I've been working on. It's tough. It's loooooong. It needs large sections cut out to help with the flow.

It is not an afghan.

BUT, I'm tackling the process of editing it in the same way I finished my daughter's afghan in a month. The finished afghan was almost queen size by the time I was done. I didn't plan it that way. Just got kind of carried away. Unlike my book though, the size totally worked. My daughter loved it.  The book...yeah...it needs to be smaller.

I finished the afghan in a month because I worked on it in little chunks. Ten rows while the son was at Karate. *Hi, Son...yarn over, pull through, pull through again.* I worked on it while "listening" to a movie with the family.

Essentially, I worked on it in small pieces.


You know the old adage, how do you eat an Elephant?  The answer is: one bite at a time.  And as such, I will finish this edit. One. Chapter. At. A. Time.  It's a looooong and tedious process, but eventually, like the afghan, I will be finished and I'll look at my pretty book and go, "Huh, yeah, that was worth it."

To motivate myself and thank all my friends, I've involved the fans of my Facebook page in my endeavor.  For every chapter I edit I've been picking a winner from the list and sending them a crocheted bookmark, made by yours truly.  Because sometimes it's nice to have a little support. If you want to get in on the fun, by all means. Come join in! Here!

Meanwhile, I'll pick one lucky winner from the commenters here and send you a bookmark. Just to say thanks for dropping by and making it to the end of this post.  :)  And don't forget to include your email so I can contact you! Thanks for visiting!!!!

So how do you edit?  Do you edit as you go, or after a finished draft? How long does it take you on average?

Blogger vs WordPress

The debate seems endless. And at times a little pointless.  I mean, it should be the content that matters not how the reader views it, right?

Let's take a look and see why it matters so much.

Blogger Pros:

• Widespread users
• Integration with Google apps
• Easy gadget, posting, template manipulation
• Reader feed into one place
• Email list capabilities
• Custom Domain name routing option

Blogger Cons:

• Amateurish look
• Third party templates not always compatible with Blogger
• Reader feed disappearing in May
• Same look for each page (unlike a website)

There are probably more for each category. Now for the other guy...

WordPress Pros:

• Professional looking templates
• Widgets
• Email list capabilities
• Custom Domain naming abilities

WordPress Cons:

• Template manipulation requires knowledge of coding
• Limited widgets and sometimes difficult to manipulate
• May lock up on you and force you to copy and paste everything into Blogger  :)

Yeah...I used to be a WordPress blogger, had it routed to a custom domain and everything. I was sitting pretty...until it locked up on me and I couldn't get it to respond to ANYTHING.  I know this is probably rare, but it was frustrating. So I switched back to blogger and I've been much happier since.

A lot of the pros and cons that I weighed for the two main blogging options seem very similar in pros and cons. Even contradicting themselves on occasion. And yet if you talk to individuals who have used both, they will usually favor one over the other for various reasons.   "I like the templates better." "I don't like Google. Period." "I want to have it integrated with my website."

The list seems to go on and on.  And in cases like this I'm always grateful to other authors and professionals who seem to have a leg up on some of the finer points of why some might be better than others, though ultimately it comes down to user preference (in my opinion).  Kristin Lamb wrote a great blog article, just today, on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.  It's definitely worth taking a look at if you're looking at a professional website and want to know your options.  

But when it all comes down to it, I'm not swayed very much by where the link I follow takes me. I'm looking for content and contests and the fun little nuggets that bring a smile to my face. And with that...

Happy Blogging!!  

And in answer to yesterday's question? I dislike the color yellow very much. It's okay for the sun and all, but if you ask me to wear it, decorate my house with it, or any other such absurdity...well, just be prepared for a dirty look.  :)

A is for...ME!

Happy A to Z Challenge month! Today's letter is brought to you by yours truly. Really.  My last name starts with an A, so introducing myself seemed like a good way to start this month off with a bang. :)

BUT there's a catch. One of these things is not true. I mean, after all...it IS April Fool's day. Can you guess which one it is?   :) And here we go...

• I have 9 brothers and 1 sister. And LOVE it. :)
• I have 7 children of my own. And LOVE them.
• I have a very very very patient husband. 
• I graduated last May (2012) with my Bachelor's Degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. It was tough. It was worth it. My family rocks for helping to make it happen.
• I love reading and writing. A LOT.
• I can type 120 words per minute.
• I write for the Young Adult crowd because, well... they rock. There's no end to the fodder my children bring home, and of course I still daydream about what my childhood COULD have been like...if I'd been, you know, braver. :)
• I'm pretty brave, actually, and spent a lot of time in my youth getting bandaged up.
• In High School I ran Track and Cross Country, but scared away most boys by my ability to jump hurdles and throw 15 pound hunks of metal across the field. Yeah...did I mention I grew up in a family of boys?
• My husband was apparently attracted to girls who could throw hunks of metal across the field.
• I love chocolate, but not as much as I did when I was younger. 
• I love to crochet.
• I never wear the same hairstyle for more than a year. That would be BOOOOOOOOORING. 
• I love the color yellow. (cough...gag...cough...gag)
• I loooooooove the color blue.
• I love trying new things. As in...Every. Day.
• I'm so glad you've made it to the end of this list. YOU ROCK!!  (hint: this is not the untrue one. I really am glad you made it this far)

HAPPY A TO Z BLOGGING!!!

EA Sharing

EA Sharing?

The EA of "EA Sharing" :)

What ARE you talking about, Karen?

It's my daughter's initials. The one who enjoys taking pictures. The beautiful eye behind the camera lens. Well, most of the time. She and I share the same love of photography, and we wanted to find some way to share it with others.

As a writer I've heard from many frustrated bloggers who want to post a picture on their blog but fear the repercussions. It's this crazy thing called copyright. ;) We totally get it as writers though, so what's a person to do?

There are a few individuals I've found who have asked the same question and combined their efforts to address the issue.

• Kristen Lamb: blogger, writer, and person extraordinaire. She blogged here about the copyright issue and how we could help one another. Like with WANACommons. :)

• Creative Commons. 

 And here's one more. EA Sharing! :)

Each of our pictures is watermarked with our EA Sharing logo so that you know you're free to share it when you come across it. All we ask is a couple of things. Okay, maybe three or four. :)

• Attribution. Because you're going to get enough credit on your cool blog for what you're writing about.  :)
• Don't remove the watermark. We want subsequent viewers to see the logo and know they're safe to use it as well.
• Don't alter the picture and make it your own. Except for maybe adding a cool quote or something. You'll send us a copy, right? :)

The slideshow will continue to update as more pictures are added, and you have only to click on them to link through to Flickr. 

Enjoy!!!  And happy sharing!  I mean, happy EA Sharing. :)