IPad, the down side.

I liked the iPad for travel, as I stated earlier, but there are a few things to consider:

The key board features the auto fill function, just like the tiny key boards on the smart phone.  The auto fill is very difficult if you are writing down foreign place names.
It will also thwart your efforts to employ polysyllabic words, so there is a great deal of back spacing involved during data entry.  And the foreign words and phrases are not found in the spell checker.

And if your hands slip, you have a very strange entry indeed.  There are separate keyboards for the very serious, but the point of this thing is sleek, early to carry convenience, so I’m just warning you.

I loved the ability to download photos to the iPad,  I could see and edit photos on the spot.   I  also spent considerable time organizing the photos into albums so I could keep track of the trip, etc.   I fantasized about getting the photos all organized and ready to upload to a photo album  before I even touched down in SFO.  Not to be.

When I hit the synch button from the iPad to my Mac Book Air, none of the work synched, just the full compliment of photos into one massive event.  My helpful husband also told me to not save the photos on the iPad after the synch, so those were deleted from the albums I spent so much time creating.  There is no fix or work around at the time of  this post.    I was not happy at all.

Will I take my ipad with me again?  Yes, now I’ve experienced some of the limitations.  It’s a great go to for travel.

 

IPad, the new Travel Journal?

The Good:  the iPad is marvelous for travel. It’s small, light and I carried it with me at all times ( I did buy a new travel purse, not to be confused with my good purse nor with my everyday Dooney and Bourke purses).  I carried the iPad and my camera and money and if I wanted, a water bottle, but the bottle was too heavy, so I carried it separately.
The iPad turns on as soon as the cover opens, so making notes in Pages was easy.  I opened it up, made a few notes, and closed it.  For someone who previously traveled with a Mac Book, this instant access is like a tiny miracle.
I recommend the Pages app for 10 dollars because even though the journal apps are fun, they aren’t as easily transferrable to my main computer.  I added photos to the journal entries to keep track of where and what I was doing.
The key board takes getting use to, but I became fairly proficient.  It does work on busses, planes, trains, most modes of transportation (not motor bikes, you must stick with texting while perched on the back of a motorbike).
I loved the long battery life and I loved carrying one device that included email, all my books and writing.  I was able to download two books from Amazon and read them immediately while in transit (I did this from Vietnam, I tried this last year while in Syria and the books didn’t download until I arrived home, so this is an improvement).

I traveled in January 2012 -  I was not the only traveler carrying an iPad.   I saw people carrying iPad’s in Vientiane, while waiting at the boarder in Laos, on the plane to Bangkok.   This seemed to be the new travel  accessory, considerably more flattering than a waist pack.

Is there bad news about the iPad?  Yup.  Stay tuned.

So What’s Inside this new book?

In Good Faith

What is inside In Good Faith?

I thought you’d never ask:

I found another body.
She was murdered.
This was an even less pleasant experience than both times before. The fact that I have found three bodies in the course of my lifetime must be more than a coincidence. But there was no context to make sense of it. I didn’t even want meaning at this juncture. What I wanted then and now is quick closure and a nice glass of Shiraz. And tranquilizers.
What did I think when I flung open that bedroom door? Some options were; horror, revulsion, sickness, shock, but no, my first thought was, I do not need this.
My second thought was perhaps I should switch from selling million dollar homes to only selling inexpensive condos. Nothing happens during a condo purchase. First- time home buyers purchase condos. And first-time homebuyers are too busy working to pay their new mortgage to indulge in mayhem and murder.
For instance, the only thing my client, Owen Spenser, a first time homebuyer, inspires is aggravation, but not murder. Although, our last conversation brought me dangerously close to the latter.

Marketing a New Book

Some information about my new book In Good Faith, inspired by the December interview in KRS writer

In Good Faith

What is it about self publishing?
The best feature about self-publishing is that it’s so fast.  As soon the final edits are returned from your editor and your cover comes back from your graphic artists, you can publish, there is no queue, there is not waiting.  Write Life took almost three years to publish  In Good Faith   from acceptance through excruciating (hard copy, no one has heard of track changes) edits and then months and months of “being in the queue”.  Controlling the process yourself is far easier and I have to say, probably more satisfying.

And marketing!  Most writers hate marketing and I don’t blame them.
For me, I am working on creating a blog tour for the book.  I am lucky I get to discuss the book on my weekly podcast, Newbie Writers Podcast.  I am sending off press releases to local papers as well as working social media – my own blog, Facebook, twitter and linked in.  I attend about four conferences a year and so that too is an opportunity to promote the book.  I considered skywriting, but it’s almost as ethereal as Twitter and Twitter is free.

Many people say that they like the validation of an “outside” or “larger” press.  And there is some legitimacy to that. Big publishers deliver bragging rights.  Small niche publishers deliver exposure to their  loyal readers. But no matter who publishes your book, you will still need to do the promotional work – and for most writers, that’s the most difficult part of publication.
My advice?  Write the book you love, be the writer you’ve always wanted to be.  Then find the publisher who fits your style and purposes.

New Book – In Good Faith

Some information about my new book In Good Faith, inspired by the December interview in KRS writer

In Good Faith

In Good Faith began in 2000. I worked as the marketing department for the Sonoma County United Way and feeling burned out.  So I wrote a long short story chronicling the antics of the world’s worst non-profit.   What did I hate most about the non-profit world?  I put that in the story. What did I hate about volunteers?  I put that in the story. I knew how much I hated the way board members treated the staff like servants.  I put that in the story too.  And I finished up with the worst thing (or two) that can happen to a non-profit.

Sure, I felt better, but where to put this story? (It was at least more sophisticated than a rant.)  It would be years later, after I left the non-profit world and became embroiled in the real estate industry (where the very worst thing that can happen, happens daily) that a new character emerged and the Real Estate Diva Mysteries were created.   The bad non-profit story merged into a murder plot for the third book and I finally had a full story.

In Good Faith is the third in a series of books: the Real Estate Diva Mysteries.  The main character, Allison Little, the Real Estate Diva in question, started speaking to me while I was still a real estate agent with Century 21. I read a line in one of the books I was studying – for my brokers license – and it read:  death revokes the offer.  Really?  It was at that point that Allison Little, real estate diva, started to talk to me, and she does not stop until I write down her story. I’m working on the sixth book right now (wrote the first 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo) and she still hasn’t stopped talking!

One Single Rabid Fan

My coach, (bless her!)  loaned copies of the Real Estate Diva series to her friend. Now I have two fans.
I mentioned that I was struggling with Trash Out, the fifth book in the series and was thinking of abandoning the whole thing.   “But you have to write it!  We want to hear about the wedding!”  She cried.
And that was all it took.
Apparently I will not only write for food, faint praise, a pat on the head, I will also write to keep just two readers happy.
And I realized that this is how you know you are a real author.
It doesn’t take much to launch a real writer into a book project, a blog, a pamphlet, or just about anything that involves writing.

Alice in Wonderland began as a story to one little girl.
The best poems were sonnets and poetry written to woo just one person.  Frankenstein and Ozymandias were written on a bet.
Does it matter what motivates you?  Does a deadline like NaNoWriMo motivate you?  Does getting your work to the casually interested publisher motivate you?  Do your stories keep you alive night after night?
Consider that your writing may just turn out better if it’s addressed to just one reader.   When you try to write for the whole world, or for the largest possible audience, your work will sound as if it was formed by committee than created by the marvelously quirky individual that you really are.
So go ahead, write for that one rabid fan, your work will be better for it.

Crazy Busy Life

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.  -  Socrates

We are busy. Very busy. So busy, so much to do.  (Spell busyness with an I and you get business)  Why are we so caught up with the idea of busy as something very good, as well as the idea of being still or decidedly not busy, resting – as indulgent, self absorbed and ultimately, bad?

Just consider this.  When we flip through all that travel porn delivered straight to our doors, what do we see?  Yes, photographs of couples sitting on lounge chairs holding exotic drinks.  Groups sitting at an elaborate meal, wine glasses in hand.  Couples strolling on the sand.  Children playing in a park.
What is wrong with our priorities that we can  hold the picture of leisure in our heads as representing the perfect life, yet seldom allow ourselves to actually do (or not do) the very thing we crave?

I challenge all of us to do a little bit of the sitting, holding wine and gazing into a loved one’s eyes every day.

How do you take Direction?

Let’s discuss fictional characters again.

I’m not talking about you of course rather, how does  your fictional character take or give directions?  Is your character   bossy, do they know everything?  Are they the classic male and refuse to ask for directions all the while getting more and more lost while his partner drops bits of bread out the window?  My grandmother gave directions by telling you where to turn just as you passed the exit.
Does your character always use a map?  Does she listen to the GPS? Does she argue with the GPS?  Does the GPS direct her on a route that doesn’t work? (which happens to me every time the GPS directs me through the heart of San Francisco rush hour traffic.)
Does your character get habitually lost because he or she can’t read a map? Can getting lost aid in a plot twist?  Can being late help stall the plot, move things forward, be exactly what you need to make sure your characters gets into even more trouble?
Have you ever taken a turn because it just “felt right?”  Where did that lead?  Was it right or wrong?
Does the character follow street signs and freeway signs?
What about a foreign country where we can’t read the signs?
How does your character react to other people with her?  Is she the leader and knows where she’s going or does she follow and acquiesces  to the stronger or louder person in the group?  And what if that person is wrong?
Many humorous articles have been written (Bill Bryson) on describing how the locals deliver directions and what happens when the hapless tourists attempts  follow same. While driving on the wrong side of the road.
How do you follow directions?  What does that say about you?

Shake up your Head

We don’t know what we don’t know.

Stuck in your work?  Wrung dry from producing  a new novel in November, are you planning a big return to writing in January?
One great way to jump start a stalled or dried out imagination is to attend a lecture or class.    The class can deliver  deeper information on a subject on which you are passionate, or  a class or lecture can cover  a subject you know just a little bit about, and want learn more. Additional information and exploration will not only make you smarter,  it may trigger a fresh idea, a fresh scene for your book, or an idea for a whole new book. Or heck, just an idea.
Dig up the community college class list from the recycling and check it out.  For under a hundred dollars you can take a class in something new.  For less than that (sometimes free) you attend a lecture.  If you are of age, check out Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
No talking going on within driving distance?  Spend a couple hours in a museum or gallery, even a local one you didn’t think was worth the visit, it may surprise you!   The idea is to trigger new thoughts,  get out of your own head and explore the interesting world around you!
Go ahead.
I’ll wait here.

Outgrowing your Guru

I am a long time fan of Natalie Goldberg.  But I fear I have outgrown her. As  I review my favorite of her books Wild Mind, I realize  that focusing on drinking a glass of water, or focusing  on my  Zen breathing is not only tedious, it doesn’t help my work at all.

One of the things I admire most about Natalie is she not afraid to change.  From her complete embrace of Zen practice in Writing Down the Bones to the discovery that her Zen instructor was not all she thought him to be, in The Great Failure, she writes with truth and clarity.  But I actually have advanced beyond her advice.

It is possible to out grow  our Gurus. We learn everything we can, then move onto to another person, another message or a new author who is just a few steps ahead of us in enlightenment or skill. And we follow her for a few years of great inspiration.

How do you know you’ve moved on?  Pull out your favorite books and read those original pieces that encouraged you to try  writing or trapeze flying or tax accounting.    Is the advice still relevant?  If so,  great, read it again and get a jolt of your original mojo.  If the advice and language seems dated, then you know you’ve moved on, congratulations on your growth!

I am still a fan of Goldberg’s.  What now inspires me is not her advice for writing practice but her complete  willingness to live out loud and share her wild mind, great failures and all, with the rest of us.
That’s a worthy goal right there.