Write, Write, Write!

Today was a productive day for my writing. I pushed aside an angry reviewer (who I don't think really read the book) and concentrated on the reviews I received from those who purchased my books, read the books and gave raving reviews. What's wrong with us that we concentrate on those few who take our books for free (or don't even read them) and then give negative reviews while overlooking many glowing reviews? We do injustice to our loyal fans, those who purchase our books, and care enough to give real feedback. Those are the ones that we want to please. Those are the ones we write for.

I read that we could receive 999 positive reviews, but it only takes one negative review that puts us in the dumps and puts a hamper on our writing. This has been the case with me for several weeks. Well, I say, enough of that. Not everyone is going to like our writing, the style or what we have to say. But we do have some loyal followers who like what we have to say and are willing to pay to read those books. I say we give our thanks to those reviews and readers who say that we have a product they want to read. And as one of my reviewers says, "Write, write, write." I am thankful for her and many others who are loyal fans.

First Editorial Review of New Book

First Editorial Review of New Book

Today, I received the first editorial comments for the seventh book in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery series. Now comes the hard part of re-writing to give the work a more polished presentation. However, this is only the initial phase and it will be the first re-write. I will have more editorial comments and re-writes after this, I'm sure. Writing the book is a hard feat in itself, with the days and nights (yes, sleepless nights) thinking about the plot and letting all the nuances solidify into a believable story with several subplots that work well together. However, I feel that having to do the re-writes is even more difficult.

In writing the book, I only had to worry about getting the ideas on the page. With re-writing, I have to make sure each sentence has all the words it needs and only the words it needs. Each paragraph has to have all the sentences it needs and only the sentences it needs. Pages and chapters are the same. Anything not necessary to the plot or description is weeded out. Descriptions are difficult for me because I want to include enough to give the reader the feeling of being there, but not enough to get boring. Too many books spend too much time describing what we already know. As they say, ''A rose is a rose is a rose." No need to go into great detail or describe the scent. Everyone knows those things.

I have always hated re-work, even as a project engineer. To do the job first, with no revisions, is only a dream I can wish. With writing, I want my characters to be distinct and to be worth reading about. Above all, they have to say and do things that are consistent with the personna that has been created for them. Having a series with the same characters means going back and re-reading the previous novels to be sure that the present novel and characters follow along the lines that the readers expect. It is also important to  give the characters growth. They should all change because of their experiences. My characters see a lot of action and they should change accordingly.

Too Much To Do, Too Little Time

Too Much To Do, Too Little Time

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I wrote on my blog. One of the reasons is that I have been busy with school. Do all teachers pour the homework on or did I just end up with a very hard class? It seems that every time I finish one assignment another one is added. The end of the school term cannot get here fast enough. I have learned quite a bit about investigative work, police enforcement and the court system, but my writing and everything else has suffered. This month has also be a month for visits with family members.

At the present, I am reading a how-to book on building your own wine cellar, which will be published by Taylor Michaels in the next month or so. When I finish this, I will place pen to paper again for my next novel, which is two-thirds finished. I have a number of edits to make to what I have written so far, so maybe I'm only half finished with the novel.

Interest has picked up in my Rachel Christie series and I have been trying to market the series. To tell the truth, I never was good at marketing. It takes a certain finesse which a past engineer like myself does not possess. Marketing is an art whereas engineering is a science. I have been reading articles by other authors on the art of selling and have tracked a number of people who are constantly giving away their books on Amazon. It appears that giving your books away does not help that much unless you have a series. Putting one book up for free does generate interest for the other books in the series. I don't think I would ever give away more than one in the series and the purpose of that is for awareness of my books.

Other ideas for other books are floating around in my head, so I may put a temporary halt on the Rachel Christie series after the eighth book and pursue those. I haven't made up my mind yet. Any of the readers who enjoy my books can contact me if they wish to comment on the series or leave a review on Amazon.

How Much to Pay for an eBook

How Much to Pay for an eBook

A popular question across blogs and forums is the cost of eBooks and I’ve even had this discussion with a few of my friends. I have several authors who are my favorite writers and I have read almost all of their books. However, a few have released, or will release books in the near future, that will be beyond what I consider a fair price to pay for an eBook.

One of my favorite authors is now charging $4.99 to $6.99 for his older works. I consider that a good value for my money. However, when his new book debuts over $10, I doubt I will buy it. Also, another author has been charging $7.99 to $9.99 for his books. I will pay those prices because, again, I feel this is a fair price for this author. When his new book debuts for nearly $15, I will not buy it.

I have discussed this with several of my friends and find that they, too, will not buy the higher priced books. It is not that we cannot afford these prices. We can. We feel the publisher is gouging the market for these well-known authors’ books.

Good authors are out there, waiting to be discovered, only if we take the time to read the reviews carefully and read the first ten percent of the book. As seasoned readers, we can tell which reviews are genuine and which ones are not. If we follow the reviewers on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, we know which reviewers are genuine and have reviewed a number of different books. We know if our interests match theirs or not. We also have Goodreads where many readers have shared their opinions on different books.

We do not have to be taken in by outrageous price gouging. I say we stand up against these high prices and find those new gems in millions of books that are available to us.

Sandeman 20-Year Port

Sandeman 20-Year Port

What’s for desert? Pie? Cake? How about port, cheese and some crusty bread? Maybe also a few grapes or cherries? Or a few cashews? Or even almonds? Or chocolate? Or -- all the above. Tres tasty. That’s what I did today after dinner, port, cheese and crusty bread.

Ports come in several flavors, so to speak. The basic port is ruby or red. This is usually sweet with a fruity flavor. Not bad. Six Grapes is a good, reasonably priced, example, less than ten dollars a bottle. A bit pricier, but no better, in my opinion, is vintage port. The port vintner is the one who says whether or not it is vintage. Like trusting the used car dealer to tell you it’s a good car. Yeah, right. You’re too smart for that.

Next is the 10-year aged tawny ports at around twenty-five dollars a bottle. Some are excellent with quite nutty flavors. Then, we have the 20-year aged tawny ports. At around fifty dollars a bottle, these are a little milder a little more balanced, a little less nutty, a little more civilized.

Like most 20-year ports, Sandeman is light amber in color. It has a light nutty mild flavor with less alcoholic taste than most 20-year ports and is more balanced. It goes well with mild goat cheese and stronger Vincent cheeses. It also goes well with caramel and chocolate desserts and nuts.

This is one of my favorite ports. I highly recommended it.

By the way, good port is spelled on the label, Porto. Don’t buy any port that is spelled port unless you have received a great recommendation.

Which Refrigerator to Buy?

Old Whirlpool Refrigerator

Which Refrigerator to Buy?

On Sunday my refrigerator died. I think I complained once too often about hating it. Ever since I purchased it, I never liked it. We had just bought our house and we had to buy something fast. Never again.

The Whirlpool refrigerator always made strange noises and I will never buy another Whirlpool product. After 8-1/2 years, it should not have died. With my luck, it figures. I’ve always read that, if an appliance dies after five years, the economics are better to replace it.  I had a GE refrigerator that lasted for over 15 years, but I sold it when I left Saudi Arabia. I wish I hadn’t. That refrigerator made many moves between States and overseas.

I spent many hours researching refrigerators this weekend. I read hundreds of reviews from various sources. Just about as many people loved Samsungs as hated them, with very little in between. GE had some hates and loves and some middle of the road opinions. I mainly looked for reliability versus features. Features don’t mean much if the refrigerator dies early. After all the reading, I decided on a GE Profile side by side refrigerator.

After arming myself with the model and the prices from Home Depot, Sears and Lowe’s, I went to the lowest bidder, which, in our area, is Lowe’s. Home Depot is forty-five minutes away and I was so frustrated with their website that I decided against them. I even emailed them and told them they needed to improve their website or lose more business.  Sears was about an hour away and had a delivery charge. So, I opted for the closest and nearest--Lowe’s. At first Lowe’s wanted to charge $200 extra, but I had already found the price on their site and told them. They agreed and I paid for the refrigerator.

The bad thing is the refrigerator will not be delivered for another two weeks. I decided I would either eat dehydrated foods or peanut butter sandwiches rather than buy something I did not want off the showroom floor. I had made my decision and would put up with the inconvenience for the next two weeks rather than purchasing something I did not want.