Nicole Zoltack's Blog, page 44

New Kindles

Yesterday, Amazon announced their new line of Kindles.



Kindle Touch 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display

$149 / $189
Free 3G wireless, no annual contracts or monthly fees. Learn more
Download books anywhere, no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
3G wireless works globally
Most-advanced E Ink display, now with multi-touch
New sleek design – 8% lighter, 11% smaller, holds 3,000 books
Text-to-speech, plus audio books and mp3s
Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
New – Borrow Kindle books from your public library
Available for preorder today



Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display

$99 / $139
Most-advanced E Ink display, now with multi-touch
New sleek design – 8% lighter, 11% smaller, holds 3,000 books
Text-to-speech, plus audio books and mp3s
Built in Wi-Fi – Get books in 60 seconds
Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
New – Borrow Kindle books from your public library
Available for preorder today



Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers

$79 / $109
The all-new Kindle – Lighter, smaller, faster
30% lighter, less than 6 ounces
18% smaller body, same 6″ screen size – Fits in your pocket
Most advanced E Ink display, reads like paper
Built in Wi-Fi – Get books in 60 seconds
Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
New – Borrow Kindle books from your public library
Order now



Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

$199
7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.
Size (in inches) 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm).
Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams).
On-device Storage 8GB internal. That's enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.
Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content
Battery Life Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content.
Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB.
Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.
USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers.
Supported Formats: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.
Available for preorder today



Are you planning on preordering or buying a new Kindle for yourself or a loved one? Which one? What do you think of the new features? Now that the price of an ereader has dropped to below $100, are you more likely to give one a chance? Do you think the Kindle Fire compares well to the iPAD?

Question of the Week

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I've decided to add a new feature to my blog. Every Wednesday, I'll ask you a question. Some, like today's, will be fun, others might be more serious.



Today's question:



Which super power would you want the most?

The ability to fly
The ability to time travel or freeze, rewind, or fast forward time
Mind reading/control
Invisibility
Teleportation
The ability to heal others upon touch
The ability to see the future
Telekinesis
Super speed
Super intelligence
Immortality/Invincibility
Super strength
The ability to control the weather
The ability to shape shift
Something else? 
What would I pick? Probably super speed. That way I can get all of my chores done and have a ton of time left over to get all of my writing and editing done. Do you know how prolific I could be then?



What about you? What's your answer to the QOTW?

Weekly Progress Report

I've still been donning my editor hat since my last progress report two weeks ago. I finished critiquing a 147K MS for one house and started editing another for a different house.



As for Elena's Pen, it's not down to 71K, so that's 4K I managed to delete in two weeks! I'm going to finish this go through before the end of the month and send it to beta readers.



I had toyed with the idea of changing the POV from 1st to 3rd, but in the end, decided against it. If an agent or publisher asks me to, I would have no problem converting it, but until then, it's a lot of work that might not be necessary.



I'm really happy with how the story is shaping up and I think the converting to MG from YA was the right choice. It's definitely upper MG.



My goal is to start querying by November. *crosses fingers*





What's your progress report? Want to check out some awesome writers' reports?

http://writersally.blogspot.com http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/ http://waibelworld.blogspot.com http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.comhttp://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com--in/

Creature of the Week and Winner!

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Today's creature is the Firebird.



The Firebird hails from Russian folklore. A magical bird, it has beautiful plumage of red, orange, and yellow, like the fire it's named for. Its Russian name is Zhar-Ptitsa, meaning "heat bird." At midnight, the firdbird goes into the gardens to eat the golden apples of immortality and to lit up the night. When it sings, pearls falls from its beak.





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 There is a Russian fairy tale about the Firebird. Prince Ivan is the youngest son of a tsar. The prince finds the tail feather of the Firebird and decided to bring the bird to his father. On his quest, he overcomes his two older brothers' treachery, receives help from a magical gray wolf, wins a horse with a golden mane, rescues a beautiful princess (aren't they always beautiful?), and dies. Not to worry, he's resurrected by the magical water of life and death and uses a flying carpet to return home with the Firebird in a golden cage.







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Now that's what I call an adventure!



------



And now...





Natalie Aguirre! Natalie wins an ecopy of Woman of Honor! Congrats, Natalie, I'll be emailing you.



And in other news, there's a pitch critique contest going on that I thought some of you might be interested in entering. Good luck if you do!

Can you hook a teen? blogfest contest

Brenda Drake is hosting an awesome blogfest contest! Details:

The Rules On September 21st and 22nd post the first 250 words of your young adult or middle grade manuscript on your blog (you may skip this part, if you wish), and then hop around to each others' blogs and give critiques. By midnight on September 23rd post your entry in the comments of the official contest post, which I will have up on September 21st so you can post anytime from then until midnight on September 23rd. It's going to be midnight my time (Mountain Standard Time). I'll have how you should enter your entry on the official post.

The Prizes

The winner will receive a $50 editing gift certificate and two runners up will receive a $25 editing gift certificate each from Teen Eyes Editorial Services. Check out all the cool services you can purchase here.

So here are the first 250 words of Elena's Pen, my MG Fantasy:



My feet dragged as I walked to my eighth grade English class. McMichaels hated me. Guess I couldn't blame him and his evil-eye glare. Not after he confiscated a story I wrote about a wicked goblin warlord. Named McMichaels.You'd think an English teacher would appreciate a kid who actually liked writing. Not this one. I was lucky he only threatened me with detention.The crowded hallway thinned out as students swapped classrooms. A kid slammed his puke green locker shut, wafting the scent of body odor and days-old sweaty gym clothes toward me. I gagged and hurried past."Elena?"I turned and spotted Artex, the new guy, down the hall. He waved a piece of paper in his hand. His lopsided smile was so inviting that I smiled back. "Hi." Why was he talking to me? I forced myself to not shuffle my feet or play with my hair.He jogged over. Dark hair fell across his forehead and made him look oh-so-cute. "I think this is yours." He handed me the story I had started during science."Thanks." I shoved it into a notebook. "I guess I forgot to grab it.""Poor Roderick. Fighting without his armor and his horse against three bloody pirates. I'm not sure he can handle them." He fell into step beside me.My cheeks grew hot. "You read it?" My biggest dream is to see my name, Elena Streaming, on the spine of a book, but it wasn't quite ready for the cute new guy—or anyone else—to read!



  Any and all comments/critiques welcomed!

Be sure to sign up

for the The Muse Online Writers Conference!



 It's free, there are some great workshops and you can even have a pitch session with an agent or publisher!  Deadline to register and to send in your pitches: September 25, 2011.



Registration is here. Here is the link to the workshops and the information needed for pitch sessions. Don't forget to include who you want to pitch to. I already signed up for a pitch session with Caryn Wiseman.



Hope to see you there!

Great News and a Giveaway!

Over the weekend, I learned some great news. First, I'm going to have two flash pieces in Pill Hill Press's Daily Frights 2012: 366 Days of Frightening Flash Fiction anthology - "Demonic Nightmares" and "Sticks and Stones."



But that's not even the great news - Woman of Honor will be available for print at Desert Breeze sometime in 2012! Details as soon as I learn them. 



I'm so excited so I want to have a giveaway. One winner will receive an ecopy of Woman of Honor. Just leave a comment to enter.





Aislinn of Bairbhe dreams of becoming a lady knight to honor the death of her fallen brother. To her mother's horror, King Patrick grants Aislinn's wish and she begins her long years of training.



Despite the mockery of the other pages, and the disdain of Prince Caelan who also trains to be a knight, Aislinn commits herself to her dreams and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and bravery. Through the years, Aislinn and Caelan grow from sparring classmates to good friends. They both know that someday Caelan will marry for the sake of the kingdom, but even that cannot keep them from falling in love.



The threat of war with the Speicans is a constant threat, and one that grows more frightening as she and Caelan train toward their eventual knighthood. Aislinn has committed herself to serving Arnhem, and has promised herself as King's Champion when Caelan claims the throne. She is willing to give up everything... her childhood, her life, even her heart for Arnhem. No matter the pain it brings.

If I Could Be Anyone, I'd Be...

To celebrate the release of her new book, Watching Willow Watts, Talli Roland is having an If I Could Be Anyone, I'd Be... party!





If I could be anyone, I'd be

Marion Zimmer Bradley

MZB has done so much for the fantasy genre, especially female-centered fantasies. She has written so many wonderful novels, including her most famous work, The Mists of Avalon, a retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of the women involved. She also started the Sword and Sorceress anthologies, which gave several authors their start, including Mercedes Lackey (who I almost picked over MZB). I hope one day to have a short story in S&S!





Who would you be, if you could be anyone? And even if you're not posting, feel free to Tweet (with the tag #watchingwillowwatts) or Facebook (tag @Talli Roland) to be in with a chance to win prizes! 





To treat yourself to a copy of Talli's new book right now:Amazon UK  or  Amazon.com

Progress Report

 





It's been a little while since I posted a progress report, which is bad, since posting them forced me to be productive. But now I have more motivation to post them. The awesome Sheri Larsen started a Writer Support 4U! group on facebook and on the second Tuesday of each month, several members post their progress reports.



Let's see... I've been doing a lot of editing lately, both as an editor and my own projects.



When I decided to take the plunge and change Elena's Pen from YA fantasy to MG Fantasy, the story was 80K. I'm about 45% through it and the word count is now down to 75K. Ideally, I would like it to be as close to 65K as possible, but I'd be happy with around 70K. So far, so good!



Once I'm in the query stage for Elena's Pen (which will be before the end of the year!), I need to work on making Lorna, my assassin, more sympathetic so the first several chapters of Hidden in Shadows needs work. The last agent to have a query out on it said: "I think you're a talented writer. However, I'm afraid that the book is a bit too similar to one that I just signed on. Therefore, I must decline the opportunity to take on the representation of this book. That being said, please feel free to re-query me on another project with a new concept, should you have one in the future." Unfortunately this agent takes on YA but not MG.

So that's my progress report. Want to check out some other fabulous bloggers' reports?

http://www.writersally.blogspot.com/

http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/

http://waibelworld.blogspot.com

http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com

http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html

http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com

http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.com

http://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com/



What's your progress report?

Want to win $10.00?

MuseItUp Publishing is hosting a contest. The editors have written flash pieces for you all to enjoy, including yours truly. Vote on the flash piece you enjoyed the most. The editor whose piece wins will receive $10.00 via Paypal. And one reader who voted for the winning entry will also win $10.00!



More details can be found here.