Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 44
February 10, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Barely Concealed Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
Today’s writing prompt could get a little…dangerous.
Who are they? What is about to happen? Why does she have a gun? Why is she naked under her coat? Is she deep undercover about to take down the boss of a trafficking/prostitution ring? Maybe she is a hired gun about to make her next mark with a little bait and switch manuever. Could she be out for vengeance, about to right a wrong? If so, what is she seeking retribution for? Did she bring her own protection, you know, in case he forgot his?
Enquiring minds want to know. Tell me a tale or caption the pic. Let me hear from you!
February 9, 2016
Link of the Week – Flowstate, Write or Lose it All
What if there was a way that you were forced to write and keep writing? No stopping to research, answer emails, edit, do laundry, feed the cat or, well, 
do anything. No distractions, just typing, else everything your creative mind has put to the keyboard disappeared. All that genius, all those words just vanish unless you keep on writing.
As they say, there’s an app for that. Flowstate allows you to set a timeframe for your writing session. You must continue typing. If you stop, the text, every word, numeral, comma, exclamation point, all of it fades and disappears. Like, GONE for good. Deleted. No getting it back. Finito. I don’t have to mention that the more you write, the more you could lose. Talk about motivation.
Check it out here, oh brave one.
http://www.hailoverman.com/flowstate
February 3, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Peek-a-boo Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
Fun prompt!
Tell me about these this couple. Did the flirtatious horseplay turn sexy? Had she lost a bet? Is she about to suffocate him with her hemline? Are they having a picnic? Did she get a mustard stain on her dress? Had he tripped, fallen and is now an amnesiac and she is helping him regain his memory?
You tell me or caption the photo.
February 2, 2016
Link of the Week – Stripping Amazon’s Book Link Anatomy
Authors, did you know you might be sabotaging your Amazon reviews? You know, when great reviews disappear, removed by Amazon citing that the author knows the reviewer, etc. It’s all in the Amazon URL you might be using when you share your book links on social media.
This short video by K-lytics explains it all and tells you how to strip your book links down to avoid Amazon’s bots.
January 29, 2016
Friday Fun Facts- Smile Your Pants Off!
It’s been a fairly stressful and sad couple of months for me. My father spent a month in the hospital and passed away. I miss him every minute of every day. That being said, it’s time to claim my life back and move forward. How do we do that? How do we bounce back from such a loss? I think I’ve found the secret, and it’s easy. And it doesn’t cost a penny.
Smile!
Here’s some things it can do for you:
1. Studies in the U.K. have shown that a single smile can generate the same amount of brain activity as eating 2,000 chocolate bars. Whoa! Talk about saving some calories. It’s also equal to the same as getting $25,000 dollars. Chalk up a few smiles everyday and you can truly say, “I feel like a million bucks!”
2. Another study showed that baseball players who smiled on their baseball cards had a longer life span as a whole than those that didn’t. Weird, huh?
3. If you say “cheeks” instead of “cheese” when you take a picture, it will be much better. It will shape your mouth nicely and force your lips up into a natural smile with the k at the end.
4. A smile is universal. Everyone on the whole planet understands that language. While hugs, kisses, bows etc. have multiple meanings in different cultures, a smile will go anywhere.
5. Psychologists have found that smiling will boost your mood. This is true even if you force yourself to pull those lips up at the corners! The physical motion of smiling instantly releases endorphins.
6. Smiling pumps up the immune system. What?!? Yes, it’s true. Your body relaxes every time you smile which promotes good health and a better working immune system.
7. Do you want to start an epidemic? Then start smiling! People have a very difficult time frowning when someone is smiling at them and will almost unconsciously smile back. It’s contagious!
8. Here’s a biggie for the women- Men find women who smile wearing NO make-up more attractive than models perfectly made up, but stonefaced. Yay!
Here’s the flip side. Women do NOT find smiling men more attractive than a brooding one at first glance. (This is only for first looks- it’s not indicative to who they are attracted to as a mate.)
9. Doctors say babies smile in their sleep from the very beginning and conscious smiles start around 4-6 weeks.
10. You are much more likely to get a promotion if you smile frequently. That’s pretty cool.
There’s no down side to smiling. I think I’ll start right now.
January 27, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Arm Wrestling Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
What a fun prompt!
Who are these two and what do you suppose they’re wagering? Mechanics wrestling for pink slips? Bad boy hoping to win a date with the good girl? Sexy, undercover spy challenging the second-rate (but cute) informant? A contest to see who’ll take out the trash? Maybe the winner makes the loser do a striptease for the boys—which might be embarrassing for the poor fellow who is losing.
What’s your take? Tell me a tale or caption the photo.
January 26, 2016
Link of the Week – Amazon’s Quality Control
Artist – Nicolas Raymond
Authors, you may or may not have heard that Amazon will now begin implementing warning labels to books. The reasoning is to make sure books sold through Amazon meet high standards. It’s their way of quality control. Sounds good, right? No one wants to purchase a book with loads of typos, poor story structure, and bad formatting. Certainly, this new flagging will begin to cull out the bad apples, those people who simply throw up unedited content and/or blurry or pixelated covers with nary a care. Yep, good stuff.
But I’m willing to bet this will backlash negatively on undeserving authors. Especially with this little gem “Content that does not provide an enjoyable reading experience.” Too many trolls out there.
This week’s link is to Amazon’s Guide to Kindle Content Quality.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A1MMQ0JHRBEINX
And here is a blog post from eNovel Authors at Work which gives more information and advice on what to do if your book is flagged.
http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/amazons-new-rules-for-kindle-authors-in-february/
More about Amazon, book typos and what will cause Amazon to flag books on Words on Words.
http://johndopp.com/writers/amazon-kindle-spelling-mistakes/
One last link, just for fun. Suggested Warning Labels.
January 20, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Soaking Tub Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
Who needs a soak?
Tell me about today’s writing prompt. Who is he? What is on his mind? Is he recuperating from a battle with zombies/demons/enemy soldiers? Could he be preparing to go into battle instead? Did he have a rough go at the prosecuting attorney against his client he knows damn well is guilty? What is the role of the woman in the tub with him? Lover? Selkie? Specialized masseuse? What if he is at that moment where he is giving in to the woman, his nemesis/rival/roommate, he has desperately avoided, knowing she will be the death of him? Is the beauty in the tub, named Calgon, taking him away?
Tell a tale or simply caption the photo. I’d love to hear from you.
January 13, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Skimming the Curves Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
For the fellas…
Wow, huh? Today’s prompt is something sexy. Tell me about the couple. Who are they and what is going on? Is he a sculptor getting a “feel” for his subject? Is she a designer showing off her new collection for the buyer she hopes to snag? What if he were a time traveller who has stumbled into this century and is mesmerized by women’s brazen undergarments? Could she be seducing the son of a human trafficker in hopes to get close enough to him and save her sister?
Of course, your mind may be a little dirtier. So what’s your take of this scene? Or just caption the photo.
January 11, 2016
Link of the Week – Winter Writing Festival 2016
It’s time once again for the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival. Time to get your writing groove on.
Through the bleakest part of winter–January 11, 2016 thru February 29 2016–the much-anticipated SIXTH Annual Ruby Winter Writing Festival will be here to keep your creative fires burning with support, advice, inspiration, and regular writing sprints in our chat room. There are fun prizes for participants all along the way, including books, critiques, gift cards and Ruby-inspired gifts.
Unlike NaNoWriMo and other writing challenges that have a one-size-fits-all approach, the Ruby Winter Writing Festival is designed for you.
No matter what stage you’re at right now (brainstorming, plotting, free-writing, fast-drafting, slow-drafting, revising, layering, polishing…or any combination of the above) the Ruby Winter Writing Festival can help you reach your goals.
Get more detailed details at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood blog on the Opening Ceremony here.
Check out the great advice for a successful Winter Writing Festival at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood’s Blog here. Or better still, bookmark the Ruby Slippered-Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival website!
http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/goal-setting-advice-for-the-winter-writing-festival-2/
