Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 42

Tools for Authors and Writers

Jackson Pollock using paint as a tool.
Here is my gift of tools for writers who want to publish ebooks, or print on demand. Please feel free to rate or add input to sites you feel are helpful.ebooks, paperbacks, editing software, books, tools for writers



INFORMATION ON EXISTING TOOLS FOR WRITERS



Advanced Authors or Do it Yourself Indie Publishing



Author uploads files (Mobi, Epub, HTML, PDB, PDF, RTF, LRF, plaintext, worddoc etc. ) directly to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Diesel and a multitude of foreign sites that can also translate to other languages. This allows author the most "commission split." Author provides camera ready format to each different site (all have a variety of size and pixel requirements) Author is savvy enough to either hire an editor or contract with artist to complete cover art. Author determines price points and manages own "platform." Authors talk about their platform as their whole brand that includes blog-site, website, social marketing, attending conferences, public speaking, blog tours, and face to face marketing. This Advanced author is usually a midlist author who has more than four novels and has been published traditionally. Author might have copyrights reverted back from books published prior to 2008 and they are now uploading and selling old "backlist" books as e-release. Ebooks can boost visibility and sales direct to author.

***





Moderate Skill levels for Authors needed to use:



Split your profits direct with a publishing site while they provide conversion software



Publishers who will convert your word doc file completed for free into all ebook formats:



Smashwords owned by Mark Coker



Takes a percentage of sales with no upfront costs. Uses their converter called "meatgrinder" from a word doc file that has no text boxes, no tab spaces into all formats. Not simple to get a clean enough file to fit Smashword's format. Book is live published worldwide in a week. Smashwords' own website is not reader friendly nor optimized to attract readers to purchase direct.



LuLu another site that offers independent publishing and an Author "store"



Bookbaby $99 or $199 plus monthly $19 conversions, editing, cost for corrections a little steep





No skill needed, the publisher charges for the uploading and takes a cut of sales:

Ones that charge fees or are considered vanity publishers: TATE, Dorrance Chronicle,,Iuniverse Outskirtspress, Author House, IPRC, Independent Publisher, Hayhouse, Authorsolutions, Author solutions is $2000- 3000 super pricey Sillowaypress Upublish, Spannet, Berhahn, Continuum, justbookingJustbooks, instantpublisher, bookmarket, Baen, and a couple hundred more...



***

Blogging sites that are free and easy: Blogger owned by Google and Wordpress privately owned



Wordpress is more user friendly owned by Matt Mullenwag ( also owns buddypress and Akismet)



The reason why authors will choose these as opposed to their own website the posting is fast and Google will rank a blogspot (Blogger site) better than a new website. Author controls content and can sell Adwords, make links, create page rank and link directly to Amazon, B&N, Sony, Diesel and Apple. Author makes a little side money from the blogs.



 Createspace (owned by Amazon) is a pay site that is cheap. Authors can print on demand a book paperback only and ebooks by coordinating with Amazon (Kindle Direct) for little or no cost. Create Space offers a smorgasbord of services needed: cover art, full editing, blogs, chat rooms, advice, some goofy scams.



Penguin's Bookcountry allows authors to find agents, Harper Collins has Authonomy Authonomy. Etc.. Traditional publishing houses (Big Six) already have their own e-publishing, promotion sites and market only their own contracted author media.



Author promotion sites: Redroom, Red Room charges a small annual fee and is a well-respected author website



Also: Absolutewrite, Authorsden, and Salon are a few others to review and compare.



Online editing as we all know is not infallible. Word's understanding and auto correct can give a write a false sense of spelling.



Editing online software:



Grammarly annual fees



Prowritingaid FREE



Whitesmoke software pricey

Brain Food For Writers?

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Your New Year's Resolution is to finish that novel and lose ten pounds? Want to write 4000 great words a day? You know those ads that say they will tell you the secret to a flat tummy? It is the same with brain foods.

These ten foods will increase your brain power and sustain you across those late night cravings.

The base foods in your diet should be raw fruit and vegetables. Add these foods in variety and have your brain never suffer from writer's block again.

1. Nonfat Greek yogurt 14 grams of protein, calcium rich and easy to digest

2. Tuna with more than 3 g of leucine, a can of tuna contains a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids

3. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids in salmon to lower your cholesterol and increase brain function.

4. Quinoa is an ancient grain with 8 g of protein per cup, including a complete set of branched chain amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. A cup contains 39 g of complex carbohydrates that will keep you from craving junk.

5. Coffee is one of my favorite foods. (FOODS? You say?) Humans can work-out harder/ longer if they have caffeine before exercise. Writing can be tough work. Combine caffeine, carbohydrate and a brisk walk with your notepad and you will be generating your brain into creative drive.

6. Eggs/ (egg whites mostly) This lean snack at 50 calories has intense 6 g of protein and 330 mg of leucine per egg. Yokes are O. K. once in a while with the nutrient choline, which supports acetycholine, the most abundant neurotransmitter in your body

7. Blueberries are antioxidant, reduce belly fat and anthocyanin, the selenium, the vitamins A, B-complex, C and E, the zinc, sodium, potassium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese prevent and heal neurotic disorders by preventing degeneration and death of neurons ( brain-cells). They also rebuild the central nervous system

8. Flax seed (not my favorite) big nutrient punch, but eat sparingly

9. Avocados, known as pear butter, but the fats in this delicious guacamole reduce bad cholesterol and increase blood flow to the brain.

10. Old fashioned oatmeal and whole grain bread are excellent brain foods improving circulation.

Need easy recipes to fit these into your writing schedule? Coming soon just for fun!

Censorship is a Dirty Word

Smut



http://www.sopastrike.com/



I worked for INDEX ON CENSORSHIP compiling an anthology of censored poets



My novels and poetry have been pirated 67 different websites that I discovered.





KILL THE SOPA BILLSOPA is not the solution

Wash Your Ramen

Outside the House of Noodles (Photograph Title)






"Why don't you wash your Ramen?" Mei asks.



"Package doesn't say to-" Helen pushes sandy bangs from her indigo eyes. Orange cellophane crackles her right leg glides slimmer than the left, "vermin factories motivate cleaning?"



"Grandmother claims noodles are wax covered."



Steam rises smelling of auburn kelp.



"Hospital gowns carry pathogens," Helen says.



"Did your homework?" Occupational Therapist is on the pocket of Mei's uniform.



"Yes, Newport Coast past his old house rather than driving long way around."



"How'd feel?"



"Dull ache, 366 days since the floozy."



"Release from lies?"



"Yes, not confined inside, I'm kayaking again to spot fulmars."



***

My response to Justin's video is not a literal translation. See my video below and links to Justin's acoustic version.



This is a work of fiction.

fulmars refers to Fulmar Gulls : http://www.tsuru-bird.net/gulls2/

Top Ramen does not suggest washing.

Crazy Ramen recipes : http://www.campussqueeze.com/post/Crazy-Ramen-Recipes.aspx



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62i9Sodwp5o

Bon Iver

FLUME

written by Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon



For Caroline Smailes fiction anthology: 100 words flash fiction responding to a utube video of a favorite song

for One in Four Charity

http://www.oneinfour.org.uk/



all rights to my words, photographs and video are reserved copyright © Caroline Gerardo 2012





 










Abandoned       (photograph title)

Diagram of Interaction, Teenage Venn

Diagram of Interactionby Caroline Gerardocopyright all rights reserved

Included in Bare Hands Poetry Magazine Issue III January 2011

link http://barehandspoetrythree.tumblr.com/







Burned Venn Diagram by Caroline Gerardo copyright 2011










A Venn Diagram Burned on the Ends





"Call me Lauren now," the fourteen year old removes the clips of blonde extensions in her hair.



"What is wrong with Winny?" Jenna moves her dry hairs splayed off her sequin thin neck. Jenna inspects her split ends.



"Tyler says Winnifred is ugly," Lauren says as if Tyler is some demigod creator of the cosmos. Lauren tucks her shirt over her round belly, self consciously sitting her bottom square against the bathroom door. The girls legs cross tangle on the grid of tile floor.



"How many minutes is it since you peed on it?" Jenna asks.



"You're supposed to be counting on your phone Jenna."



"Two minutes, is there a cross or a line? You look-" Jenna says.



"Nothing yet-"



Jenna does not reveal she too has kissed Tyler. Not with jealous arrows, merely proximity and raspberry flavored vodka, Popov, the cheapest brand propelled the particulate to connect. It went down hot as the desert after a brush fire.



Tyler said, "All the pigs get songs and the chickens aren't allowed to squeal." Tyler has relationships organized on flow charts. He believes himself a Greek song dividing human contact into labels for which they are not.



Lauren dreams of being a pop singer even though she ditches choir. She cups her tongue to allow sweet caramel tones, her diaphragm ringing the cello strings of her core, "Time is up."



"It's negative," Jenna holds the white plastic bar between them, "Text him."



Lauren types on the cracked iphone keyboard unaware her number has been blocked.

New Years Eve Plan

Day before and the day after I will be by your side. 





What we do today is more important than yesterday.

Today might be cleanup day after having family over or the day before New Years Eve. Perhaps for you it is a regular workday where frowns at the alarm clock and an extra cup of coffee got you rolling.

My Mother had a stroke twelve days ago. This event may change the course of my actions for the next years. At eighty, I suspect her possibilities are limited but I want her to have dignity, improvement and happiness in the last section of her life. It is turn-around time for me. Time again to dedicate to others.

I have my game face on, my very best Scottish kilt with black watch plaid is ready for the dry cleaner and son's Christmas tie is packed away.

New Year's planning not resolutions, actual steps I will complete.

It might be O.K. for some to eat left over pie for breakfast and wear pajamas in front of the television on New years Day. I ask you to get up early January 1st and see the sunrise with me. Put your work clothes on your back.

Today we write our five year plan. What is that you ask me?

Take today to handwrite this out Goals for the next 1 year 5 year 10 years.

Here are mine.

Work:

To write seven days a week from 4:55 AM- 8:30 AM and 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM. 3000 words a day. To journal in handwriting when walking, at gym, hearing conversations, jotting down ideas from life. To take three photographs a day. To work on short video and film two days a week. To further the software project with Google. To have pilot ready for X secret by February 1, 2012. To have The River finished for editing by end of January 2012.

To market my work face to face, twitter, blogging, Goodreads five days a week growing my audience readers to thirty thousand separate contacts by December 24 2012.. To answer all requests for interviews in three hours. To submit two poems or flash pieces to literary magazines and follow up on the requests for themed work.

To ask for reviews. To speak in public, at universities and perform at small theaters fourteen times in 2012 and ten in 2013. To have newspaper reviews in major print. To have my next book published in hardback by Tor or St. Martin's Press and e released worldwide 2013.

To promote other writers and artists. To grow my writer posse. To buy and read 25 books of other writers of interest a month. To RT anyone's self-interest who is kind and generous. To encourage others to be supportive of writing and creativity. To assist others in the daily creative life and process.

PHYSICAL:

Martial Arts Bone Conditioning, Running three days a week, Weights three days a week, Stretch daily, hikes four days. Maintain weight at 116 be able to run with Carson at half pace. In 5 years to still be same weigh and strength. May need foot surgery and knee to be able to keep running, adjust with swimming.

Financial: (not posting for privacy). X amount of savings X amount in 401k by saving 30% of earnings.

To sell 100000 copies of current release The Lucky Boy by daily selling through platform by December 24 2012.

Spiritual: To pray daily and be connected to God. To be great to others without preaching

Family:

To bring my Mom home to my house at first and have physical therapy work with her to be able to be independent in her own house in two months. I do not believe she will drive again. To have Carson get his permit and be able to safely drive himself to school, and assist with driving her to appointments. To have Blair also drive her to appointments. To encourage Blair to finish another short film. To get my siblings to agree upon a team schedule to make this work. Blair and Carson leave home, to go away to college and find their own dreams. To allow my children to fail and not be afraid to try again.

What are yours?

copyright © Caroline Gerardo 



we prosecute pirates.

Soldier Home For Christmas

Dear John,





The President announced the troops come home from Iraq. I wonder, will you come off the plane last? Will you be wearing your ACU (the service uniform holds that dusty smell of charcoal) when you ship home? Our son will want to keep that jacket with the letters of your name on the chest. I know it is common enough and we might be able to buy one with SMITH on it at the army surplus, but he will want yours.



In your last letter you wrote about how every night the image of Smith Park's oak trees and ivy pathways kept your mind green. The sounds of leaves touching in the wind are like karaoke vocalizing the lyrics we listened to on that oldies station. It is December now, they will play Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on the car radio. I sing along loud and joyful. I keep putting antifreeze into the radiator just as you told me, but the Jeep is running cold.



Things here at home will be strange when you return. I did not have the heart to tell you in my letters that our park is gone.  The city redeveloped the area into something commercial. What remains is a little triangle between busy streets the neighborhood. They let the grass turn brown. The sign remains steadfast, as I have waited for you my love. It is in front of the graveyard where I hope to finally put you to rest, we will all be together. War has been a troubling enemy I could not touch or understand but knowing it is over will make us start to heal.



Merry Christmas to All With Love,









Copyright © Caroline Gerardo 2011

Christmas Vireo Song

"Your fingerprints touched my life." 

My fingers burn from scratchingthe diamonds underneath the ice.

"You abandoned us under the lake."

A boiling constant pot of water with cinnamon sticks to remind.Christmas candy childhood playing with the wisemen. Gently touch baby Jesus in the manger, taste the horehound in dill and thyme amber.

 I still believe in Santa.Maple syrup trees never grow tired.They remain faithful to their charge.

Love's desire one last opportunity.

Bell's vireo pair on my glass wall diving for insects, avoiding pinecones soaked in honey millet.They don't need crystaline sugar meth.

The male's white eye ring & summer grass breastremains faithful calling to his bride.

"Cheedle cheedle chew," he offers her.

It is a Christmas grandiflora song, spreading hope to the woodland.

Lucky Boy game

Family Christmas Tree

 

This year my children voted not to purchase a Christmas tree. I have mixed emotions about the decision. Instead of my elaborate tree, we are donating a medium sized tree and presents that they made and purchased for a family who lives in their car. I sprung for a hotel room for Christmas Eve for the family. I am not going to post their pictures or names as they asked to keep this quiet. I suspect they worry that their two children who do not attend school might be removed from their hard life.



I live in an affluent neighborhood. I notice an increase of not just single homeless men, but now families. The last piece of normal they have is to sleep in their automobile and solicit donations in the shopping center in front of WalMart. I cannot tell you exactly what lead this particular family to lose their home, but I know the struggle to find employment becomes more difficult by not having a stable place to live.



I admit to a selfish wistfulness. I will miss not having a big tree with my gold and silver ornaments that I have collected over the past nine years. I lost all the prior ones in a fire. My ornaments each have some special handmade memory. I have not figured out how I will hang them, thinking fishing wire from every window, but this seems like more work than I have time to budget. Silly and frivolous concerns when I compare myself to a family without a decent place to sleep.



Things have not been easy street for my family this year. I look back on holidays in my past and am thankful of the support I have from the large and meddlesome network I have covering my back. I will have fifty some family and friends for dinner on Christmas Day. I invited my adopted car family but they seem embarrassed to show up. A few of my siblings expressed distress that I might include persons that they worry might make the celebration awkward or uncomfortable. I am not passing judgment on anyone, just doing something I think might help their eleven year old son and fifteen year old daughter to hang on to a memory that offers a more hopeful future.



I wish I could give more.