Cynthianna's Blog, page 21

Support Judy Mays! Support Your Local Authors!

I know there's a lot of talk online about this story, and I don't want to give those who have maligned Ms. May any more press, so here's a link to my publisher's blog that gives a few more pertinent details:

http://extasybooks.net/essenceofextasy/

I hope most readers realize why writers often use pen names in the first place. No one wants to suffer this kind of grief over his/her art. For some reason, readers will buy (hopefully not pirate) and read our erotic-romances, but if they find out we're teachers in our day jobs... All of sudden we're suspect human beings.

I'd be more afraid of my kid's English teacher writing "true crime" or murder mysteries. Do you think they go around killing folks to gain "experience" to write their stories? If you find that idea ridiculous, then why should romance authors be accused of being "dangerous perverts"? Aren't we exercising our imaginations like mystery writers do? ;)

Please support Ms. May and all your favorite and local authors. Stand up for our write to create stories the way we see fit. Stand up for the First Amendment's freedom of speech. Together we can make the world a better place.

Spring Break in the Sunshine State!

We're back from our spring break. Rather than bore you with lots of details, I thought I'd post a few photos instead. :)


Don't you wish you were on a beach right now? (I know I sure miss it.) Where is your favorite spring break locale?

Stop the Presses!

Stop the presses! This is out-of-this world news (of a sort). ;)

A photograph that I snapped two years ago at the Dogtown St. Patrick's Day parade will be featured in an upcoming episode of "Car Science" on SPEED TV. The episode will be airing Wednesday, April 6th on SPEED at 10pm EST. Here is a link to the page on SPEED for the TV schedule: http://www.speedtv.com/programs/car-science/

We don't get the SPEED TV channel, but if you do, please check the episode out for me and tell me when my photo shows up. Thanks! It appears that you can watch older episodes of "Car Science" on Hulu, so eventually I hope to see it.

Wow... I never would have imagined something like this would have happened to me. You post a photo on Flickr to show friends and a TV producer tracks you down and asks if they can show it on their show. No money involved, alas, but she did say she'll send me a DVD of the show. Cool!

If you wanna see the photo of the "motorized bar stool" car, here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cynthianna/3376903570/in/set-72157625249212234


Have you ever had a snapshot you've taken noticed by someone else other than family and friends before?

The All New, All Dancing, Singing, Performing Blog

It's time to throw beads! Happy Mardi Gras! Opps, that was last month, wasn't it?

Happy April Fools' Day! The blog title is no joke. I'm attempting a new format with my blog(s) and this seems as good a time as any to implement it.

I'll admit it right here and now: I was born sometime B.C. (before computers). I'm not so keen on the daily blog thing. Sure, many people blog daily, but having worked as a columnist in the time B. B (before blogs), when words were actually printed on paper, monthly postings worked best for me. I'd come up with one good idea (or even one not so good), write it and post it on the blog. I'd write several hundred or a thousand words on a topic and hope to get some sort of feedback from readers. Most of the time I heard only crickets chirping in the distance.

Times change. People don't have time to read long blog postings. Short blog postings are perceived as being more entertaining than one longer, in-depth rant. Short blogs also more conducive to promoting one's other writings I'm told. Being unemployed, I need to promote and sell more books in order to survive, so it's time for me to bite the bullet of blogdom and attract more readers to both my blogs and books.

On our way to Sesame Street, Mardi Gras style!

A lot of what I use to send out in my monthly e-newsletter for many years now, I'm going to post here whenever it happens. I enjoy sending out the e-newsletter, but I understand how much email you read everyday for work, play and other groups. From now on, the newsletter will be very brief and direct you to where the information can be found online. That way, you can pick and choose what interests you most and skip the rest if you're rushed for time. If you're not already one of my general e-newsletter members, sign up for it at http://groups.yahoo.com/cindyappelnewsletter If you just want to know what's going on with my erotic-romance persona Celine Chatillon, you can join that newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/celinesdreams

Since I possess "multiple personalities" (I write in multiple genres), I host separate blogs for them. But time and health issues have kept me from making them all that different lately. That will change over the next few months. This blog will continue to feature the "G to PG-13" rated writings of Cynthianna and Cindy A. Matthews. The hot, adult-oriented, erotic-romance excerpts and book news will be found exclusively at Celine's Dreams: http://celinesdreams.blogspot.com . Please become a "follower" of any and all of my blogs by clicking on the "follow this blog" button on the right hand side. Thank you.

What is it? Whatever it was--it works!

I used to share lots of fun and fascinating articles and web sites I came across on the 'net in my e-newsletter, but in this day and age of Twitter, I tend to "tweet" them instead. If you'd like to follow my infrequent tweets, I invite you to become one of my followers. http://www.twitter.com/cynthianna3

I enjoy interacting with my readers, my friends, family members and other denizens of the electronic age at my author page at Facebook, too. You can "like" my author page at http://www.facebook.com/cynthianna.celinechatillon This past month, I sponsored a contest for new members of my Facebook page. (You can read about it there.) A free e-book prize has been awarded to Linda for joining my Facebook page and leaving a comment. I plan on doing some more giveaways and contest promos again in the future, so keep checking back here for details.

Slowly I'm becoming more in tune with the digital world around me… And I am publishing on a more regular basis again. Many of my books are now available in Kindle format (especially Celine's titles), so if you got a Kindle for Christmas or your birthday, can I entice you to give them a try? You can find direct links to my Kindle books at my Amazon author pages:
Celine Chatillon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002CQY3BM
Cynthianna: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002CQZYGK
Book reviews and "tagging" and "liking" of my books at Amazon is appreciated.

Mardi Gras tip #6: If you're nice to the parade marshals and the cops, you get more beads!

I'm still updating my author pages at Goodreads. I should get there in the end, but if you're tech-savvy and can walk me through it, feel free to drop me a line and share your sage advice. Thanks! So far, I think I've discovered Celine's author page and updated it at http://www.goodreads.com/celinechatillon_cynthianna
If you're a Goodreads junkie, please feel free to become my "fan" and rate/review my books.

Okay, now's the time to actually blog a little about my upcoming releases…

Slowly catching up with the digital book revolution—I discovered my writer's how-NOT-to from Uncial Press, The Curse of the Manuscript Eating Slushpile Monster, is now available for the Nook reader at Barnes and Noble. Just do a search for it by title at bn.com and it should pop up. It's also available in print with a shorter title, Defeating the Slushpile Monster, from Smiling Assassin Productions.


My science fiction-romance novella, Unalone, is coming soon from Devine Destinies books. I don't have a release date for it yet, but you'll be the first to know if you follow this blog. A brief synopsis can be read on my web page: http://www.cynthianna.com

Both my romantic fiction persons are working together on another science fiction book series along with several other writers. We're still in the preliminary planning stages and we don't want to spill the beans just yet—sorry. Keep it tuned here for updates… particularly if you're a fan of vampires, steampunk, action-adventure and romantic-suspense.

Here's something different I've written lately—I'm writing sketch comedy and I've seen it produced onstage at a local night club. My husband, author Adrian J. Matthews, and I know Brendan Allen, an up and coming actor. We thought we'd like create some new material for him and his fellow cast members. Our sketch "2011: A Fridge Oddity" was performed this past week by The Non-Prophets Theater group during their "Non-Prophet Militant Propaganda Bingo Machine" sketch night at Lemmon's in St. Louis. We really enjoyed seeing our work performed and thought the cast did a great job. They might even do another sketch we wrote next month.

This new blog post has gone on long enough! If you want to see what Celine Chatillon is up to bookwise, head on over to her Celine's Dreams blog—now. And be sure to leave me a comment here telling me what all you'd like to see in upcoming blogs.

myLot User Profile

myLot User Profile

2011: The Year Without Health Insurance

In January, I started off 2011 with my blog post 2011: The Year Without Snark, a plea for more civility on the Internet and in all our personal communications. Thanks to all who commented or have taken the pledge seriously and are doing your best to eradicate snark in all its nasty forms.

This month, I'm tackling yet another example of uncivilized behavior apparent in the world today, particularly in the good ol' U.S.A. You'd be correct in assuming this is a piece about the unfair current state of health care in this country. What you might not have guessed is that I, your dear blogger, am caught in the middle of the whole sordid mess.

Yes, I'm one of those Americans who *gasp!* are currently without decent health insurance.

Since there really is no "emergency back-up plan" for Americans once they're unemployed (or the family member whose insurance plan included them becomes unemployed) other than the ridiculously expensive COBRA option, we go overnight from being freely allowed in the front door of a doctor's office if we have a complaint to being told (sometimes politely, sometimes not) to get lost. I think the acronym COBRA says it all—we are transformed into poisonous snakes who aren't worthy of a fairly priced (or free for those who can't afford it) health insurance plan. And the fear of snakes is a very common phobia indeed.

So we are forced to choose between health care and food and shelter. After the last month of record setting low-temperatures and snow dumps in the Midwest, guess which items we chose to fund? Well, we didn't quite freeze and we didn't eat like kings, but we're still here.

At the prodding (read: demanding) of my mother, I finally found an overpriced, super-high deductible, temporary health insurance plan we can barely afford to tie us over for at least six months. However, I hold little hope that it will actually help out much should the need arise. If the deductible is more money than you have, and you're currently unemployed and living on your meager savings, how the heck are you suppose to meet the deductible? Will a surgeon perform emergency surgery knowing you're only going to pay him a small fraction of the bill? I suspect hospitals routinely use these temporary health insurance cards for toilet paper for all their worth.

To be honest, I carried my defunct insurance card in my wallet around for a while, so overwhelmed was I at the prospect of being denied medical help. I figured if I was in a coma or knocked unconscious, the paramedics or police would rummage around in my purse and find the said lapse insurance card and assume that I was properly insured and would give me the emergency medical care I require. Only after I became conscious and they found out the truth would they have been forced to kick me out of my I.C.U. bed and tell me not to come back until I could afford treatment.

Yes, it is a worse case scenario, and I do have an overactive imagination I'll admit, but somehow I get the feeling this scenario is based more on fact than on fiction.

Since no one enjoys a whiner, I direct your attention now to a blog written by a friend who expresses her concerns over the current healthcare debacle quite well:
souptonutts.blogspot.com

How can we prevent our fellow unemployed/underemployed citizens from discovering their health isn't important as those with money and power just because they're not carrying around a current, decent health insurance card? You do wonder if the darn cards aren't made of platinum or gold… In some way, perhaps they are.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! Yes, we've made it through January and on to February and the winter storm of the century. Today we're stuck inside with nothing better to do than to try and cheer everyone up. What better way than by posting a short and funny video?

Enjoy "Cupid to the Rescue"--and tell us what you think. :)

Cupid, Tom and Becky are all "Pocket Personalities", a new arts endeavor by me and my very creative husband. We thought others might enjoy owning a miniature character from literature or history that means something special. They make excellent teaching aids for educators and of course they make super gifts. Plus, we are taking personal commissions, our first big project being a complete "family portrait" for my sister's family. That's fourteen kids, grandkids, husbands and wives altogether in peg doll form.

It certainly is a different than making everyone sit for a stuffy and boring oil painting to hang on the wall, don't you think? Who wouldn't enjoy seeing their loved ones in doll form? (And they make a great way to teach little ones about their family members.)

Pocket Personalities now available at Theophilus Saxe's Emporium:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/theophilussaxe

2011: The Year Without Snark

I've just about had it with 2010, and now that it's over with, so much the better!

The year itself didn't aggravate me. The blistering month long heat wave in summer didn't do it. The fact that I was injured on the job, became unemployed and don't have health insurance doesn't even raise my blood pressure as much as this one thing does. A small outbreak of tornados on New Years Eve about a mile down the road from our neighborhood didn't even rile me. What truly got my goat this past year were some of my fellow human beings' lousy, mean-spirited attitudes and how they expressed them publicly.

Consequently, my number one new year's resolution for 2011 is to ELIMINATE ALL TRACE OF SNARKINESS FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, here are a couple of definitions. From the Urban Dictionary:

Snarky: Critical in a curmudgeonly sort of way.

From David Denby's book Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits (Subtitled It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversation), Simon & Schuster, 2009:

Snark attacks individuals, not groups, though it may appeal to a group mentality, depositing a little bit more toxin into already poisoned waters. Snark is a teasing, rug-pulling form of insult that attempts to steal someone's mojo, erase her cool, annihilate her effectiveness, and it appeals to a knowing audience that shares the contempt of the snarker and therefore understands whatever references he makes. It's all jeer and josh, a form of bullying that, except at its highest levels, beggars the soul of humor.

Bullying. Jeering. Teasing. Insulting. Contempt. Real positive behavior there, snarkers.

Whether you believe like Denby that the word "snark" originated with Lewis Carroll's classic nonsense poem, "The Hunting of the Snark", or it comes from a combination of the words "snide" and "remark", I hope you agree with me that it's not a positive form of communication. "Snide remark" pretty much says it all.

I'm tired of all the unnecessary snideness in the world today. It's mean, it's low and it doesn't help people feel any better about their situation when snarkers are trying to score laughter points off their fellow human being's misery by being sarcastic. I guess the idea of "killing someone with kindness" has transformed itself with "killing someone with verbal abuse."

Case in point, what did I do to deserve a snarky email response to simply applying for a job? If I'm not qualified or the position is filled, simply say so and can the self-righteous nasty reply. It makes one wonder about the qualifications of an individual working in a human resources department who would go to all this trouble to keep me from ever applying to that firm again. (Don't worry. If that's the snarky attitude prevalent there, I won't.)

Whatever happened to good manners? Are they dead and gone in our society never to be seen again? I don't think so. I think they're still out there, cowering in the shadows, afraid of being shot down by the multitude of snarky commentators out there. But those of us who follow Thumper's Rule ("If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all.") I say it's time to stand up and speak out (politely, of course) against snark and end this plague of negative nincompoops for good.

I realize this is probably an insurmountable task. I know I can't do it all myself, so I'm asking you to join me on this worthy crusade. Pass the word about the internet via Twitter, Facebook, My Space and What-Have-You-App on your iPhone or Droid and let others know that you, too, are sick and tired of nastiness in tweets, messages, emails, in witty but acid-laced book/theatre/movie/product reviews, hatred expressed in literature or drama as a whole and in the way many think a normal conversation must start with some sort of put-down. To put it simply in Nancy Reagan's famous parlance: JUST SAY NO TO SNARK.

Look at me—I'm resorting to all capitals to get my point across, a trick I abhor as a copyeditor. It just goes to show how angry I am whenever I encounter snark!

If you agree with me, sign the form below and post it on your bulletin board at work, school, home, church or on a telephone poll on the way to the grocery store. Encourage others to do the same.

2011: THE YEAR WE SAY "NO" TO SNARK

I solemnly swear that I will do just that—not swear, or resort to unkind words or the verbal bullying of my fellow Internet inhabitants, my friends, family members, co-workers, strangers or other persons unknown—and that I will do my best to lessen the evil impact of all incidences of snark I encounter by encouraging good manners, constructive criticism and kindness to all parties involved.

SIGN:

DATE:

Please leave a comment on this blog and tell me what plans or successes you've had in this campaign against rudeness. Together we can make this a better world!

Thank you, Cindy A. Matthews

The Christmas Tree Without Presents

The lights shine just as brightly on a Christmas tree without presents.
And there's a whole lot more room under it to position your nativity scene, Christmas village, HO train track, stuffed animals, Santa figurines or other decorations you've accumulated and managed to hang on to over the years.
Looking at my Christmas tree this year, I can see just how much I have been blessed. I have been fortunate to accumulate many ornaments just by living this long and for having friends and family members who have gifted me with such treasures. None of my ornaments are what you'd call "pricey", but to me they are "price-less". What price can you put on love and good memories?
It's a difficult holiday season for us this year without an income and without much hope of finding jobs in this bleak economy, but for now we can afford to keep the lights turned on our Christmas tree and that is enough. When I think of all those who don't even have this much--no place to call home or no tree filled with the ornaments of good memories--I try to stop my pity-party and mentally kick myself in the rear. But I won't lie to you--it's difficult.

If I could give everyone in the world a gift, I'd like to give the gift of hope. Hope that tomorrow the tree will have presents and that the lights will always be turned on, twinkling in the darkness, proclaiming that a Light bigger than ourselves is shining over us. May He shine over us all forever.

A book trailer I helped to make...

Check out this cool book trailer I helped create this week. I took a lot of the photos that were used as a basis for the "sketches" and located a few of the others. The music from Incompetech.com is really stirring, too, don't you think?

Better yet, The Hetzenberg Chronicles: Volume 1, is now on sale until the end of the year. It's available at Amazon and via the publisher, Smiling Assassin Productions, too. The author always gets more royalties if you buy directly through the publisher, you know. Remember that whenever you shop at Amazon. ;-)

More videos should be on their way soon and can be found at our You Tube "Smiling Assassin Presents" Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cynthianna63?feature=mhsn

Enjoy!