Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Today I'd like to direct you to a few authorly places: With the eBook revolution, are signed books going the way of the dinosaur?  No way! says Marcus Clearspring, author of Writing Investigated. He's got an interesting guest post over at Arlee Bird's place about   Electronic book signing .   If you check it out, please be sure to let me know if you think this is something worth trying.  Here is an excellent post by The Fallen Monkey on the top three grammatical errors she sees in manuscripts, complete with a punctuation cheat sheet.  The article is concise, clear, and provides great examples. The Monkey is a  former high school English teacher, current manuscript editor, and all around cool chick. At Thoroughly Smitten, you can read my take on one of the most famous couples in literature:  Fictional Felicity:  Rhett & Scarlett (by far the least authorly post of the four---be warned!) Omnific Publishing has started an " Ask an ...

Today is Lisa Galek's Happy Birthday, Harry blogfest in honor of Harry Potter's birthday.  My contribution is an excerpt from my fanfiction Professor Burbage and the Potions Master . This scene occurs in Harry's 5th year.  I thought it would be fun to give the professors a little love. Excerpt "A New Year" Professor Burbage and the Potions Master Charity returned to her second year as a Hogwarts professor after spending a good portion of her summer holidays in America. While there, she and her parents had visited Salem, Massachusetts, site of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Quite hilarious really, seeing that as far as anyone knew, witches and wizards hadn't appeared in America until the late 1800s. Charity declared that the first staff meeting of each new school year was like a birthday for Hogwarts, and so she returned from her travels with gifts for each of the Hogwarts teachers. She gave them out as they gathered in the moldy staff lounge. “For y...

In preparation for the impending release of Omnific Publishing's two Summer Lovin' Anthologies on July 5, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Save the Ta-Tas Foundation , many of us participating in this week's Meet an Author Monday blog hop have breast-cancer related posts. Mine is about all the wonderful products available these days to make life after breast surgery more comfortable and just as active as the survivor wants it to be. I'm extremely (and inexplicably) fortunate that in the minefield of breast cancer, my only close encounter has been through my maternal grandmother.  She had a successful single mastectomy before I was even born, so the only thing I remember about it are the times she'd pass around her breast form at family parties.  You heard me right.  She'd gotten a new, satin, pillow-like thing that she was ever so pleased with because it was soft and not itchy.  Apparently describing it wasn't enough for her, because I cle...

A rockstar would probably be miffed at seeing her name on the marquis just above "Dog Training"...not squeal with glee and demand a photo. A rockstar would probably expect people to show at her gig...not exclaim "Really?!" when told there were fourteen registrations plus walk-ins. A rockstar would probably have rehearsed ahead of time...not relied on the grace of God and the wonderful questions and insights from attendees to keep the presentation flowing. A rockstar would probably have a whole stable of pens ready for merchandise signing...not wait for one of the purchasers to say "You're going to sign this, right?"   And I'm guessing a rockstar doesn't need to grasp on to her own hands during the "show" to keep them from wildly flailing about.  Ah, but a rockstar probably doesn't give out cookies, either, does she?  I do. :)  And today I'm giving them out to fabulous authors Trisha Wolfe and Killian McRae for hel...

My typical response when anyone says, "Hey, wanna play ** insert name of game here, any game at all **?" is a groan.  I don't know why, I just don't care for games. Maybe because the words "Its your turn" always seem to interrupt my conversations. Regardless, I have signed up for Alex J. Cavanaugh' s It's All Fun & Games blogfest in hopes that someone will come up with a game that'll strike my fancy. Good luck with that.  For my part, I've selected three games I can be talked into with a minimal amount of arm twisting, so maybe you'll like them too: Drink!   You know the game---where every time somebody says a certain word or does a certain thing, you take a drink.  For example, let's spice up this blogfest and everybody take a drink whenever Alex says "Ninja"!  We ought to be schnockered by noon. Bananagrams   It's a lot like Scrabble but much faster.  Everybody works on their word puzzle simultaneously, so...

We did it!  Ever since blog friend Michael Di Gesu and I discovered our birthdays are only three days apart---and that he's in Chicago and I'm in the western 'burbs---we've been talking about getting together.  And last Friday we made it happen.  Of course we made it happen; we're both stubborn Tauruses (or would that be Tauri?), after all. This is us at the Grand Lux Cafe on Wabash I'm happy to report that Michael is just as lively, open, warm, and wonderful in real life as he is on his blog.  The conversation and laughs flowed easily all through lunch...and about 45 iced teas/Diet Cokes. But that wasn't enough, so after having the waiter snap a photo of us, we wandered over to a Starbucks that had the most AMAZING view of Wacker Drive and continued the conversation.   If you ever get the chance to meet up with someone you've clicked with in the blogosphere, I highly recommend it.  Thanks for the fun, Michael! During A to Z, Michael won a copy ...

Given the plethora of writing-related blog hops, I gather I'm not the only one who enjoys a writing challenge.  I don't often get to join those hops, as I'm still trying to figure out how to keep all the balls I'm attempting to juggle in the air, but I'm very fortunate in that more than one of my balls---okay, can we please switch to oranges or something?  Thanks---as I was saying, more than one of my oranges involves writing. Added to my ever growing list of duties at work is writing about products for my company's website and blog.  This can get dull at times, but being the writing dork that I am, I get huge kick out of wooing the search engines with my words, i.e. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  The challenge lies in packing the entries with key words without looking like I'm doing it.  The most important thing is to have something informative and appealing to potential customers, and that ain't gonna happen if I simply parrot the same words ove...

Alrighty then, here are the final 80s TV Shows Trivia answers.  Much thanks to everyone who played. :)  If you see your name below, this badge to the left is all yours.  Remington Steele One of the show's early writers and producers, Glenn Gordon Caron, quit after the first ten episodes to start his own production company.  He went on to write and produce another hit 80s TV show, also about a pair of bickering "I hate you/I love you" detectives.  Know what it was? A: Moonlighting Who got it right? Tara Tyler ; Alex J. Cavanaugh ; Anne Gallagher ; Lynn Reed .  I'm on the bubble about Michael Di Gesu because he was going for "McMillon & Wife" but did switch to the correct answer when he saw other guesses, so, hrm, 1/2 point? Saved by the Bell Only four of Saved by the Bell's seven regular characters (pictured here) appeared in each of the TV show's eighty-six episodes. Can you name them? A: Zack, Slater, Screech & Lisa Who go...

For Michael's Blogfest , rather than telling the fictional tale of me and my imaginary buds at Hogwarts, I thought I'd tell you about my real life Harry Potter mates---the Harry Potter Finer Things Club that started out as a trio, just like Harry, Ron, and Hermoine. In the midst of the Harry Potter Series, me, my sister, and my nephew used to huddle together at family gatherings to discuss all things Harry P.  This didn't go unnoticed by the others, and at one family party my brother claimed we'd formed our own Finer Things Club (ala The Office).  Little did he know we'd sink our grimy meat hooks into his joke and turn the "club" into a whole thing---engraved bookmarks and all. Here's a new video I made in tribute to my HPFTC mates.  If you watch, please note: a major perk of club membership is getting to taunt non-members regarding their non-membership, so sorry 'bout that.  But hey, if you can answer the initiation questions contained in t...

I got a really nice surprise last week when I found out that one of my very favorite writers has published her first novel ---and it promises to be like nothing else you've ever read. Katella's stories are filled with biting sarcasm that makes me laugh out loud every time. But her characters aren't just hilarious---they've got true depth, and Katella has a great way of revealing them layer by layer throughout the story.  And oh yeah, they're werewolves!  Here's the blurb:  Book One: An American Werewolf in Idaho (Available on Amazon Kindle) This is a novel based on the notion that it doesn’t matter what you look like, because beauty lies within the soul. Age, race, and sex are all meaningless because when it comes to being human we are all the same. Each chapter is packed with humorous themes of government control, individuality, and battles between the sexes. It tackles cultural differences and discrimination in a language that young minds can unde...

That's why I don't do it. But if there are people out there who I think might enjoy my book, then I feel it's only right to do what I can to let them know Three Daves is out there. I mean, if I don't do it, who else is going to? And if I'm joining a super awesome blog challenge to improve myself as a blogger, why, it would be selfish to not spread the word any way I can, wouldn't it? That's why I took A to Z Challenge founder Arlee Bird up on his second challenge---to get a story about the event in a local paper . Turns out it wasn't challenging at all. Arlee gives a lot of great tips for how to go about crafting an article that highlights both you and the challenge. Then it's a matter of getting it to the right place---many towns have local e-papers that allow community members to directly submit articles, or at least events. Once you've got the article written and submitted there, it's a press release you can e-mail o...

Not feeling terribly verbose on this Daylight Savings Monday, so I think I'll let Jack Handey say it for me: I wish I would have a real tragic love affair  and get so bummed out that I'd just quit my job  and become a bum for a few years,  because I was thinking about doing that anyway. -Jack Handey    And now for more orange icons.  It's Meet an Author Monday, hosted by Cali Cheer Mom , your chance to mix & mingle with other authors.   Authors, please join, place this icon in your blog post, and hop away!  

What I discovered about myself when I got my very first laptop almost 2 years ago, is that I'm a rabbit at heart and prefer to hole into little cubbies. Despite my new ability to venture away from the desktop and out of the confinement of the small office, I've landed in the even smaller butler's pantry as my primary writing space. It's a narrow galley between the kitchen and the dining room w/ a pantry closet on one side and this small counter on the other.  I just couldn't focus in wide open spaces---far too many distractions.  So this is where I go when I need to get 'er done.  And yet, I'm still in the middle of the house and able to keep my mom-dar on. ;) Yes, that's a wine fridge on the right---what's your point?  The beauty is that when company is coming, I can easily whisk away the office supplies (including the pens, etc. in the coffee cups) and *bam* it becomes a beverage oasis.  The guests leave, and *bam* it's back to my "off...

Because of the maximum fabulosity of my Top Ten Countdown (bloghop hosted by Alex J. Cavenaugh ), I've created a Top 10 You Tube playlist for your enjoyment. I had two main criteria for my selections: * The songs had to be by bands/performers that have a whole stable of great songs.  No one-hit-wonders here.  So each song on the list represents one of my personal favorite bands/performers. *  The songs have to be timeless .  When I listen to them years later, I have to love them not because of whatever memory they dredge up, but because they still rock.  And so, the order here was simply decided by how much time they've been tested for...i.e. in order of release date, starting w/ the most recent. **Please note, if asked again tomorrow, I reserve the right to completely change this list ;)** 10   "Just Breathe" Pearl Jam 9 "I'm Shipping up to Boston" Dropkick Murphys 8 "Pretty Vegas" INXS (I feel like a traitor choosing a song post ...

I've been wanting to post about this for a long time, but finally got motivated by one of Lisa Galek's new year's resolutions at her blog Read, Write, Repeat .  By her own assessment, she's gone over the edge and has resolved to curb her emoticon abuse in the new year.  We discussed it further and agree that emoticons in moderation aren't bad, but we worry that we've become too dependent on them. Hey, why does it sound like I'm talking about an addiction?  Oh, maybe I am...  Hi.  My name is Nicki Elson and I'm an emotiaholic.  Which is extremely ironic because I used to be an emoti-snob.  I refused to use them.  I said, "I'm a writer. I shall use only words to express my meaning."  But then, as I became more active in the world of on-line writing, my e-communications through reviews, responses to reviews, private messages, e-mails, etc. increased, and I found a quick-fix to let the person on the other end know I was just joking was to tac...

We can say it doesn't, but we all know it does.  So tell me---exactly how big do you like 'em? This'd probably be a good time to tell you that I'm talking about chapter size.  One thing I've learned through writing and editing is that there are often multiple potential chapter breaks.  Sometimes an obvious stopping point screams out, but what to do when that doesn't happen?   Should word count be considered? For example, I've finally gotten back to my WIP and hammered out at least the beginning of a first chapter. I've reached a point where I could end the chapter...or I could keep going.  Either way it'll work just fine from a story perspective. As it stands right now, I'm at 2055 words, roughly 8 pages in print.  That strikes me as rather too short.  Is it?  Or is short a good thing? And do I need to aim for consistent chapter length throughout the story (I typically try to)? Or is content all that matters and I should stop asking these qu...

Guess what - the Three Daves trailer made it to the second round in Spunk on a Stick's Book Trailer Contest ! Thank you L. Diane Wolfe for hosting the contest, and thank you Alex. J. Cavanaugh for tipping me off about it. It's a shame he and I now have to be mortal enemies until January 9 when the contest ends...  By the way, the grand prize is a set of Diane's YA The Circle of Friends series of books donated to the library of the winner's choice.  Pretty cool, huh? And I have some more thanks to hand out.  Thank you Barb Hallworth (bworthit@hotmail.com), the creative genius who put the Three Daves trailer all together.  And thank you Intervox , the band that composed and performed the awesome song "One Fine Day" that sets the tone (follow them on Twitter @intervoxmusic ).  Here, lets have a look at what their imagination and talent hath wrought:   And finally, THANK YOU to all of you who voted me through!  If you'd like to see the top seven...