Amy Corwin's Blog, page 12

Nearing The End Of Week 1: NaNoWriMo

We're closing in on the weekend and the end of the first week of National Novel Writing Month, or more affectionately known as: NaNoWriMo. The Internet ether is churning with reports of NaNoWriMo wracking up thousands of words. It's exciting and astounding to watch.

How am I doing?

Not too bad, although having to work overtime last night knocked me back by a thousand words from my goal. So far, I've got 6,300 words written. I need to write 50,000 by the end of November to step into the winners circle.

Will I make it? Yes.
At least, I think so. Assuming I don't have to work a lot more overtime like I did last night. The prospects don't look good, though. My hubby and I were looking at our respective schedules and November is a bad month all around. I'm holding the fort while he's gone, he's holding the fort while I'm gone and we're very, very busy.

In a number of ways, I wish they'd move NaNoWriMo to a month like January. We'd get one more day to reach 50,000 and what else are you going to do when you can't get out of the house because the door is frozen shut? Not to mention that you'd start out the new year right by writing a brand, spanking new book that you can maul and work over for the rest of the year.

Sigh.

But we have to work with what we've got. I'm a little worried about productivity tonight because I haven't quite decided which subplot to start working into the story. Since it's a mystery, there are several subplots which are my "red herring" threads. One is already started. I can't decide which of the other two I want to start weaving in now.

And no, I'm not going to describe them. LOL. If, by chance, I should manage to get this book published, I don't want even the slightest possibility of divulging any secrets ahead of time. Assuming that the red herrings aren't so blatent that within five minutes of hearing about the clues, you dismiss them.

Then there's characterization. That's more challenging. I need to give my characters challenges while not making them appear to be complete idiots. It's harder than it sounds.

Back to work and mulling over red herrings. After dinner tonight, I need to settle in and write at least 2,000 words. That's the goal.

In the meantime, did I mention that A Rose Before Dying is on sale? Check it out at your favorite ebook store.

The first victim was Sir Edward's ex-mistress, a woman who threw him over for a younger man. After receiving a mysterious rose, she dies while alone with Sir Edward. Then a second rose is delivered and a deadly game commences, where roses are the only clues to save the next victim.


However, Charles Vance, Earl of Castlemoor, refuses to believe his uncle, Sir Edward, could commit the murders, even when the renowned head of the Second Sons Inquiry Agency warns him there may be some truth behind the rumors. "The roses are Sir Edward's attempt to cast suspicion elsewhere." "Misdirection." Or so the whispers say.


Convinced he can prove his uncle's innocence, Vance enlists the aide of notable rosarian, Ariadne Wellfleet, little realizing his actions will involve the Wellfleet household in the killer's game.


Before the week is out, another rose is delivered.


And someone else is missing.

Christmas Spirit has also been released, the perfect holiday historical mystery novella to curl up with next to the fire.
Enjoy!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

National Novel Writing Month

The first day of NaNoWriMo is over!
Phew.
I wrote 2,014 words, roughly 8 double-spaced pages, last night on my WIP (work in progress) Hidden Aspects. It will be the third story in the Second Sons mystery series and features Prudence Barnard and Knighton Gaunt from the first book, The Vital Principle.

And while I'm constantly telling people, "If you want to be a writer, write," I haven't been so good at following that advice. My writing goes in spurts, in part due to necessity. I spend a few months writing a first draft, set that aside, and work on editing some other book. There are only so many hours in the day, and I have a day job, so when I'm writing, I'm writing. When I'm editing, I'm editing. Sigh.

However, what that has meant was that I'll go for long stretches without doing much in the way of new writing. Which is bad. Often, I'll learn a thing or two while industriously writing during NaNoWriMo, but instead of continuing to write when the book is done and cementing what I've learned, I go back to another book and start editing it. Not good. Must rethink.

And on a side note, even spiders write. In fact here is a writing spider. Isn't he pretty?

I've been doing so much editing recently that my mind has gone into hibernation on the creativity front. In fact, I was starting to worry that after I manage to write the next three or four books that I have ideas for, I may run out of creative juice.

Which brings me back to NaNoWriMo and why writers must write. Constantly.
Because last night, not only did I get those 2,014 words written, but I got a bunch of side benefits!
While I was writing the chapter, I thought of a twist for the story that hadn't even occurred to me before. My goal tonight is to write another 2,000 words to incorporate that cool twist.The germs of two more books occurred to me. I wrote them down. So maybe the creative juices haven't quite run out. Yet. LOLSo you see? The more you write, the more your skills improve and the more you tap into your hidden well of creativity.

If you want to be a writer, then write!

I love NaNoWriMo (even if it scares me half to death with visions of falling mid-month into a writing-induced coma).

Join the madness! It's not too late!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Christmas Spirit and Silence is Concurrence now available!

What a great week!
Both my holiday historical mystery novella, Christmas Spirit , and my short, short ghost story, Silence is Concurrence , have gone live on Amazon! I'm very excitied (as I'm sure you can guess).

That clears the ground for me to concentrate on writing Hidden Aspects, a new historical mystery featuring Prudence Barnard and Knighton Gaunt, the two main characters from The Vital Principle . I plan on torturing myself during November by participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to attempt to get the first very rough draft of Hidden Aspects done.

As I go slowly go insane, I'll be blogging about my NaNoWriMo adventures during the month. Wish me luck--I really want to get close to finishing the rough draft if at all possible.

Once I get the rough draft done, I'll put it aside to concentrate on getting the editing done for Escaping Notice, the final (at least for now) book in the Archer family series. Escaping Notice will feature Helen Archer, the younger sister of Oriana Archer who you met in The Necklace . With luck and the help of my editor, we're hoping to get Escaping Notice out early in 2012.

Whew. My head is spinning.

Here is a bit about my two newest releases.


Christmas Spirit A Regency mystery novella

A blizzard envelopes the English countryside five days before Christmas, stranding Eve Tomlin and her mother when their carriage shatters a wheel. The women struggle through the snow, forced onward by a wraith-like figure gliding through the trees. Exhausted, they find an apparently abandoned house and stumble inside. They are confronted by Giles Danby, a guest at Folkestone Manor. Danby ruthlessly tells the women they must go.

Their host has just been murdered. A killer is on the loose.

Or a vengeful specter, if they believe Danby's father. A specter Eve may have glimpsed in the woods.

Desperate to solve the mystery and remain alive, they can only hope the Christmas Spirit isn't searching for another victim.
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Silence is Concurrence
A Southern ghost short story


Collecting material for a book of ghost stories, Kate travels to North Carolina's beautiful Outer Banks to collect an eyewitness account of a haunting. She has a few difficulties finding the house, but eventually she meets Mrs. Corley and hars her story.

Although she doesn't realize it, Kate may find more material than she knows what to do with.
 
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Enjoy!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Coming Soon - Preparing for a New Book Release

Pre-Release Checklist


 Ever wonder what an author is doing the last few weeks before his or her book is released? Think she's just sitting around with a smile on her face, eating chocolate-covered strawberries and waiting for the accolades to roll in?
 If it were only that easy.

 So what really does go on behind all the lights and glamor? (Oh, if only there really were lights and glamor…)

 Technically, the author has been working his or her tail off not just for weeks, but for months before the book comes out. She needs to get ARCs (advanced reader copies) out to reviewers in hopes of getting folks to start talking about the book before it hits the street. These days, a lot of readers rely on not just the book's back cover blurb, but also reviews. I know I use reviews to figure out if there are elements in the book that either appeal to me or don't appeal to me before I purchase it. I find the one-star reviews the most helpful in figuring out if there's some element I'm not going to like. I don't care about the number of stars, per se, but I do care about certain gruesome or horrific elements (or erotic) that don't appeal to me.

 Blurbs and Taglines
Some publishers are kind enough to have some poor editor create the snazzy, tantalizing blurb you find on the back of the book. Others leave it up to the author. So if it's in the author's hands, she must to write something that is going to make readers buy her book. The blurb is generally just a paragraph or two, about one hundred words long. Most of the time, it presents the central conflict, e.g. Jane finds a dead body, is discovered standing over it, and is arrested as the prime suspect.

 The blurb is sent to the publisher (for the back cover) and used by the author on her website and for any promotional/marketing activities.

 In addition to the back cover blurb, the author needs to come up with a sentence, i.e. tagline, that encapsulates the brilliant premise of the book. Jane must find the real murderer before he finds her! Jane sees dead people! Whatever. It sounds really easy, but trust me, it's not. This tagline (plus the blurb) has to be so enticing that readers are hooked.

 The Final Few Weeks
Right before the book is released, there is a flurry of activities.
[image error] Updates to the author's website The new release should be listed (coming soon!) on the main web page, with a link to the book's web page A web page should exist for the book with the following information:Cover image & publishing information (e.g. release date)Back cover blurb and taglinePurchase links which the author will activate when the book becomes available for purchaseAn excerpt (optional)Links to any reviews (from the ARCs the author sent out)Tweet, blog, and otherwise socialize—the book is coming soon!Figure out a marketing plan including any contests, e.g. GoodReads, from your website, Facebook, etc.Line up blogs with other bloggers to spread the news – but just schedule blogs for now. Don't actually start blogging too heavily until the book is out and has a purchase link, otherwise "I want it now!" readers will forget all about it by the time the book is released.  Timing is everything. In this digital world, there is an expectation that there should be a "buy now!" link on any blog or other social media note about a book. This can actually be the hardest part: holding back until the book is "live" and folks can actually buy it!
 I know I can't wait to start talking about Christmas Spirit which will be out in November. There's no buy link, but it is coming soon to an eReader near you!
 Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Harvest Time

It's Peanut Harvest Time!
That's right, if you live in North Carolina, it's time to get at harvesting those peanuts. We live surrounded by fields and the last few days, the farmers have been busy, busy, busy. Used to be that those fields were used for tobacco, alternating with corn and cotton with the occasional soybean crop to keep things interesting. Now, it's corn, cotton, soybean and peanuts.
The corn crop went to heck this year because of the drought, so those fields were pretty much a waste. But at least the guy who farms around us has a pretty good crop of peanuts. I've already seen one truckload delivered to the peanut factory down the road. (Their warehouse burned down a couple of years ago, so they have to store the peanuts in some old warehouses previously used for tobacco, but it seems ot be working out for them.)
For those who have never seen what this process looks like, here are a few pictures. Basically, the farmer turns up the soil around the peanut plants to expose the roots where the peanuts are growing. Then, once that's all done and they dry out a bit, he comes back to harvest the peanuts, which are really not nuts at all, but a member of the legume family, like soybeans.
Once they're harvested, they fill up dump trucks with the peanuts and drive them off down the road to be roasted and processed at the local peanut factory. There's even a store, Houston's, in Dublin where they sell various peanut products ranging from your traditional peanuts-in-the-shell to peanut brittle. Sadly, I developed a late-life allergy to peanuts so I have to forgo all this goodness. :( But my husband still enjoys them.

Halloween Is Near!
And of course as if you didn't already know that I'm a complete nut, I've been working on our Halloween family. They're all duded up for the holiday and once October is over, I'll be getting them ready for the next round of holidays, as well. Our UPS delivery person gets a big kick out of these and takes pictures as I change their clothes appropriately for the season, so I guess I'm not the only nutter around.

It takes so little to make me happy.
Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Professionalism and Jon Cryer

I don't know Jon Cryer and know nothing about his personal life, and I generally avoid all the "scandal rags," celebrity gossip, etc, like the plague. But during the meltdown of Charlie Sheen and its impact on "Two and a Half Men," you couldn't really avoid hearing about it, even on the radio.

As a society, we've come to accept and even expect immature behavior. Tantrums pass for "speaking your mind," and whining and back-biting is the norm. It's always made me very, very sad that our desire to be young forever has led us to embrace the childish, rather than adult and professional behaviors. In fact, I often wonder if anyone knows what it means to "be a professional" and act thoughtfully and rationally, anymore. To my delight, however, it appears that some folks still value the traits we used to associate with being an adult.
Now, most of the time, when someone in the Hollywood gang breaks down, you get one of two reactions from his/her associates: nothing (as in "No comment"); or a scathing retort wrapped in a whine. Perhaps even hysteria accompanied with a good bout of crying. But not with Cryer.
I've always thought Cryer was a good actor. To a large degree, he quietly carried "Two and a Half Men." But he never really came to my attention as a true professional until this Sheen drama unfolded. Two things really stood out. He didn't do the "no comment" thing, but he also didn't whine or speak badly about Sheen.
He behaved with quiet, amused dignity. I wish some of our politicians would behave as well as Cryer in the face of a public scandal or disaster. In fact, Cryer behaved exactly the way I wanted my character, Prudence Barnard, to behave in "The Vital Principle". She didn't go to pieces, weep or lash out when she was accused of murder. She behaved with dignity and met the challenge to prove her innocence. I wanted her to have the traits I've always admired most in adults: a sense of humor, kindness towards others, and a sense of professionalism. She's not perfect, but she's not a childish mess, either.
Cryer's professionalism first "hit me over the head" when a morning radio program played a snippet from an interview with him. I don't have the specifics and my memory is so bad I'll probably get most of it wrong, but it does show how a professional handles a frankly terrible situation.

"He called you a troll, how do you feel about that?" the interviewer asked, obviously trying to spark a ratings-booster outburst of some sort from Cryer.

Cryer said, "Well, I haven't wanted to admit this…" (And I thought, NO! Don't sink to his level! Don't do it…) "But I am a troll."

He then went on to do an incredibly funny bit about how he'd tried to hide the fact that he was a troll for years, etc. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard and an absolutely brilliant way to handle this. Instead of talking trash about Sheen or treating us to a fit of hysterical tears or anger, he simply made a joke. And the joke was not at Sheen's expense. Now that's the way it should be done. Professional. Gracious. Adult.

Honestly, at that moment, I thought Cryer could easily walk on water and cure all the ills of mankind. He's what I want to be when I grow up.

Then not content to rest on his laurels, Cryer continued to respond with well wishes for Sheen. He moved forward. He cooperated to keep the show going. He was a man about the whole thing.

When they reconstituted "Two and a Half Men" and I caught the first episode, my respect for Cryer as an actor went up yet another notch (if that's possible). He literally carried the weight of the show. There was an undercurrent of awkwardness as the other actors and actresses tried to pull it together and regenerate the smooth feel of an ensemble that is running well. But you could see the jagged edges where things didn't quite mesh.

Of all of them, he seemed the most relaxed and the most determined. It was like watching one of those local theater shows where they've managed to get one major actor to be in the play. That actor knows his lines and knows how to act and he's literally dragging the performances out of the others to make them shine, as well. I got the definite feel that Cryer was the glue holding the show together, the one who knew what had to be done and was doing it. The others, frankly, still looked a little shell-shocked. I expect that will change over time and the cast will mesh, but in that show, he really stood out.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, "Bravo, Cryer! Well done."

It's nice to find someone who still knows what it means to be a professional, and someone I can use as a model for my characters like Pru. I've got another book for Prudence Barnard and Knighton Gaunt brewing, so now, whenever I get stuck, I'll just think, "How would Cryer respond to that?"
With humor and dignity. That's how.
Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Guest Author: Elizabeth Means

I met, virtually of course, Elizabeth as a fellow author published by The Wild Rose Press. Our publisher has done so much for us and many other authors struggling to have our voices heard. Elizabeth and I have so much in common, particularly when it comes to science, that I was very happy when she agreed to join us.

Elizabeth Means

Do you ever find yourself wondering if the dark red stains on your significant others clothing could be the blood of a murder victim?


Hopefully you don't. Ever.



But just for giggles let's get into the Halloween spirit a little early and say that you did. How might you go about figuring it out in a timely manner? One that wouldn't arouse their suspicion?


Oh, and let's also pretend the year is 1880.



Give up? Well so did my main character – almost. Fortunately, during one of my novel-research-marathons I learned that German scientist Schönbein discovered the ability of hemoglobin to oxidize hydrogen peroxide and make it foam in 1863. This resulted in the first presumptive test for blood. A rudimentary and convenient test I was thrilled to be able to work into my storyline as it brought my main character one step closer to finding the true killer!



For the mad-scientists among us, the chemistry behind the reaction looks something like this:



Blood contains an enzyme called catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas.


2H2O2+catalase releases 2H2O + O2



When this reaction occurs, the oxygen gas is released as bubbles. That's why you see fizzy bubbles when you pour hydrogen peroxide on a bloody wound.

This test is not fool-proof, however. Other organisms, including plants and some bacteria also make catalase. But it was a great forensic tool for the time period and can still be easily used today.



Considering All Hallow's Eve is right around the corner…perhaps I'll keep my bottle of hydrogen peroxide handy. Strange things have been known to happen by the light of the October moon.

A Short Bio
Elizabeth Means lives in the Midwest with her wonderful husband and pretentious cat. When she's not working, reading or writing, she enjoys hiking, biking, and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.

While she likes many genres, she's particularly drawn to Victorian era romance stories that are fueled by forbidden love and quite often…murder. The foggy streets, swirling coat tails and foreboding castles make it a difficult one to resist. Her new release, Dangerous Charade, is now available in print and e-book from The Wild Rose Press, Amazon and other major online book retailers. Visit her website at http://www.elizabeth-means.com/.

Dangerous Charade teaser

"One-two-three... two-two-three… very good." Julian held Gabrielle securely about the waist as they moved across the floor in perfect unison. "You're a surprisingly quick study."

She nodded demurely, barely able to concentrate on whatever it was her feet were supposed to be doing. Or not doing. Dancing with Julian was proving to be even more unnerving than she had feared. Having his body but a breath away from hers was far too distracting. He was her number one murder suspect, and she needed to keep her wits about her now more than ever.

"Are you sure you've never waltzed before?" he asked.
"Never," she lied.

He spun them around quickly, catching her off guard, causing her to cling to him tighter. "I believe you're ready for Rocancourt's ball. I no longer fear you will trip over both my feet and embarrass us silly."
She pursed her lips. "I can assure you I would do no such thing, with or without your lessons."
"You don't say?" He furrowed his brow in mock thoughtfulness. "Do you know what I'm thinking, Gabrielle?"
"I cannot begin to imagine, my lord." She cursed the butterflies in her stomach. The effect he had on her when he breathed her name in that seductive drawl of his was maddening.
He leaned down so his face was beside hers and whispered in her ear. "I think you have a secret." He felt her body tense. "Oh, yes, I'm onto your little game."

* * * * * *
Thank you, Elizabeth! And I loved that excerpt.Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Christmas Spirit

I know, I know, I've been a very bad person and haven't posted to my blog in a while. But I have an excuse (besides hurricane Irene, which is also a good excuse and I'm using it). I've been working frantically on a new holiday mystery novella called "Christmas Spirit". In fact, I'm getting ready to send it to my editor tomorrow (phew).

And right now, I'm trying to decide about a cover. Here is one candidate. It's actually very good about capturing the feel of the book because Eve, the poor heroine, has to plow through the snow with her mother and maid in tow when their carriage breaks down. And when they come to a house, they discover that the owner has been murdered! In fact, he was found with his throat cut just moments before Eve and her mother (and maid, let's not forget the maid) arrive.

Horrors!

Was it the ghostly apparition they glimpsed as they struggled through the snow? Or was it the guests, Mr. Danby and his father, Lord Wolverton? Or Anatoly, the flamboyant cook?

Will Eve and her mother survive long enough to find out?

Who can say, but stay tuned for more info about "Christmas Spirit" as we get closer and closer to a release date (hopefully, sometime in November).

Then, I'll be hard at work on the next Pru and Knighton mystery, which follows up their story from "The Vital Principle". Pru has found another dead body and this time, the victim is related to her and she's convinced he did not commit suicide as everyone else claims. She's sure it's murder and asks Knighton for his assistance in proving it. I've got the first two chapters written, but haven't even settled on a title, yet.

Some of you who also read paranormals will be interested to know that I've also submitted "A Fall of Silver" to The Wild Rose Press. Wish me luck. That will be the second book, following hard on the heels of "Vampire Protector". If that submission goes well, I'll be working on the third manuscript, tentatively entitled "Smoke" and featuring the redoubtable Theresa Blackstone, who had guest appearances in both "Vampire Protector" and "A Fall of Silver".

Lots of irons in various fires. Despite that, I'm going to desperately try to do better about keeping the old blog going.

In the meantime, let me know what you're up to now that the weather is starting to cool down.Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Dragged into the 21st Century

Media in the 21st Century
This is a little "off topic" because generally, I like to talk about books: writing books, reading books, new authors, etc. But I love gadgets (I have another life as an Enterprise Admin in the world of computers) and we wanted to have a little more choice on television. I was seduced into getting NetFlix from a freebie offer and while it was okay, it the time lags in getting DVDs meant that I often asked for a movie or TV show that I ended up not watching for weeks. I'd lose interest or be busy or...
So we wanted to be able to stream video so we could watch what we wanted, when we wanted.
We got a few inexpensive gadgest and now, we can stream video to our TV. I thought maybe other folks might find this interesting or helpful.
Our first challenge was the fact that I'm just about as cheap as they come. If something ain't broke, it doesn't get replaced.
The second challenge was: we live in an old log home (i.e. cabin) and our DSL internet connection goes to my home office, upstairs. You can see from the picture that I've got "quite the little network" going already. However, our television is downstairs. Despite what all the wireless manufacturers try to tell you, wireless signals do not like solid log walls. We couldn't get a wireless signal downstairs to save our lives. I did run a CAT-5 cable from my office, through our bedroom, and down to my husband's home office, but despite having repeaters and whatnot, we couldn't get a signal to our living room to save our lives.
So, streaming video was just not in the picture.Until now.
Browsing around Amazon, I came upon PowerLine devices that use the house electrical wiring as psuedo-Ethernet wiring. And most devices were within my price range, i.e. under $100. I thought, well, heck, why not try it? I did some research and ended up picking a middle-of-the-road device, figuring it had the best performance-to-price ratio.
Netgear Powerline AV200 The NetGear Powerline AV200 is about as simple as they come. It's basically two little white boxes with LED lights to tell you what's going one.

You plug one directly into an electrical outlet near your Internet access point (in my case, in my home office). You run a CAT-5 (ethernet) cable from the PowerLine to your switch, hub or router (whatever you're using to connect to the Internet).

You plug the second one directly into an electrical outlet near the device you want to connect to the Internet. You run a CAT-5 (ethernet) cable from the PowerLine to your device.

One note: you need to make sure you do have a free electrical outlet. You can't use an extension cord or powerstrip. So we did have to move some things around and get a new powerstrip to free a nearby electrical outlet.

We did this we were shocked when it actually worked! Especially considering that our house was built in the early 70's and nothing is standard in it. I honestly didn't think it was going to work.

Next step: a device that can stream video.

ROKU
Once we got a way to connect a device to the Internet, we needed a device. One that could connect to the Internet. See, I told you I'm really cheap and none of our current equipment was new enough to have any Internet connectivity built in. So again, I raced back to Amazon and nosed around.

The little ROKU looked just about right and was within my price range (under $100) so I got one of those. And was seduced again, this time into getting Amazon Prime which offers free, 2-day shipping and free video streaming. :)

We got the ROKU XDS. It's just a little box with a remote control. I was really torn between this and the GoogleTV device, because the GoogleTV has a keyboard which is nice for poking in titles you want to search for, but...I'm a cheapskate.

The ROKU was just as easy to set up--I plugged it into the TV using an HDMI cord (I purchased that separately). I plugged it into the PowerLine. Then I went through a few setup steps to tell NetFlix and Amazon that I had this nifty little box to stream video. There were a lot of other services, e.g. HULUPlus, etc, but I figured NetFlix and Amazon were enough. (I'd eventually like to get down to one service, but right now those two compliment each other pretty well.)

Operation
Now, we can stream video from either NetFlix or Amazon. When you select something, there is a slight delay as it initially buffers your selection. This generally runs a minute or less. After that, it's just like watching "real TV". There are no delays, no jerkiness. You can get HD if your television is capable of it (ours is so we do use that). Both NetFlix and Amazon have search boxes that pop up a small alphabet matrix and you can "type" in letters by selecting them with the ROKU remote. It's less kludgy than it sounds and since it starts search with the very first letter you enter, I've generally been able to find what I want within the first couple of letters.

My only real complaint is that there is less of a selection of shows available for streaming than on DVD. NetFlix: The newest shows come first on DVD with Netflix. You have to wait for them to be available with NetFlix streaming and some are never available. But there is a good selection of "Midsomer Murders" and "Kolchak, The Night Stalker" TV programs, so I'll probably keep NetFlix as a streaming-only option.

Amazon: With AmazonPrime, the selection is limited and tends to run to older movies (either really old, or from the 70's, 80's, 90's with sporadic ones from this century). But since it's part of their "free w-day shipping" it's a nice feature since we buy a lot from Amazon. My husband likes Amazon because he got to stream/watch a few Marx brothers movies. The selection of TV shows is somewhat limited, generally just one or two episodes instead of an entire season. However, you can get new movies on a "pay-for-view" basis that lets you "rent" for two days during which you can watch it until you're sick of it. I was also able to watch some "Murdock Mysteries" TV shows, although I had to pay for them.

I briefly looked at some of the other services, e.g. HULUPlus, but I figured that paying for NetFlix and AmazonPrime was sufficient. (I warned you I was cheap, right?) At one time, I was wondering if we could shut off our satellite subscription and just go with streaming video, but there are too many things we like to watch, e.g. Weather, Fox News and O'Reilly, that are just easier via the satellite.

Conclusion
If you need to create an Internet access point in your house but can't drill holes to run cables and wireless doesn't work for you, I would definitely recommend looking at a PowerLine product. You don't have to use the devices I used: I only included them because they worked for me and they are good examples of how you can get streaming video for under $200.

Good luck--I'm off to watch a few episodes of the original "Star Trek"--on streaming video!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities

Guest Author: Marian Allen

The talented science fiction writer, Marian Allen, agreed to join us and I'm so glad she did. She's written a great new book, Force of Habit, as well as a short story, By the Book. I'm a huge fan of the original Star Trek television show (although I'd like to claim that I was too young to see the episodes when they originally aired, LOL) and Marian has woven a story that will delight fans of that series.
* * * * *

Thanks for having me today, Amy! I love talking story. :)

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky and now live in rural Indiana. For as long as I can remember, I've loved telling and being told stories. When, at the age of about six, I was informed that somebody got paid for writing all those books and movies and television shows, I abandoned my previous ambition (beachcomber), and became a writer.

On Aliens and Alley Jammers
One of the eternal questions, right up there with, "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" is, "Are you a plotter or a pantser?" Sometimes the answer isn't that easy.

When I wrote my upcoming novel, FORCE OF HABIT, I began with a short story I had written by the seat of my pants. It was a take-off of the original Star Trek show, with the elements and characters of the show in the background and the action carried by original characters (and Tetra Petrie, who was created by my long-time friend C. Jane Peyton).

As a farce, the story moved so far from the original tone of the show, it wasn't difficult to move it to a totally original work, and this was where the plotting and planning came into the picture.

I had already created an alien world for the action and peopled it with a police force and a planetary governing body representing the various types of interests. My main characters were original, although Tetra was Vulcan. Or was she half-Vulcan? There seemed to be a lot of that going around in fan fiction. The villains, of course, were Klingons.

That wouldn't do. Tetra became an amphibious humanoid from the water planet Gilhoo. Spock became her brother, Quatro, and moved from the background to the middle ground. The Klingons became the Stokk: smooth customers with violence as part of their courtesy. Since mistaken identity was the pivot of the plot, I gave the Stokk brightly colored skin and hair so that people with skin and hair tones within a wide range of similarity are hard for them to tell apart.

I planned to just change the names of the rest of the television show's characters, but a strange thing happened: they became themselves. As the framework of the story was expanded to the size of a novel, all the characters stopped being tweaks of other people's characters and took on their own personalities, flaws, strengths, attitudes and abilities. They changed gender. They changed species. Since they weren't under contract and didn't have any fans, they faded into the background if I didn't need them.

And, somewhere along the line, alley jammers got into the picture. In the first scene of the book, one of the Stokk is accused of starting a rumor that an eating establishment is using alley jammers in its cuisine. That was supposed to be a one-time reference, but the name stuck in my head. In another scene, a character taking a short cut through back ways and byways pulls an alley jammer out of his pocket. At the end, Bel, my main character, ends up with a pink alley jammer as a pet.

I ran a contest last year to promote my previous novel (a fantasy, and unconnected with this book), EEL'S REVERENCE. One of the prizes was choice of name in a story I proposed to write promoting FORCE OF HABIT. That story, "By the Book", is set on the world of FORCE OF HABIT and features one of the characters. It's free at Smashwords.

I'm running a similar contest this year. Details are at my blog.

FORCE OF HABIT is also available at Kindle and the NookBook store.


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Thank you, Marian!
Live Long and Prosper!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities