Marlene Dotterer's Blog, page 85
December 22, 2011
Titanic Belfast Counting Down to Opening
The excitement is building in Belfast. We'll be there, but unfortunately, our timing is off. We'll miss the opening of the Titanic Quarter by 3 days. But we do have a wonderful tour arranged of the shipyards and Dunallon, Thomas Andrews' home.
December 21, 2011
"This is my favorite sun! The sun that's in the sky!"
The title is a quote from my 2-year-old grandson. I thought it was perfect for winter solstice.
Merry Yule to you all!
May the sun shine on all your endeavors.
December 20, 2011
Shipbuilder Reader's Guide
If your book club wants to read The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder for your selection, I can tell you I think it's a great idea! To help it along, I've put together a brief guide for your club's discussion. It's on the Reader's Guide page.
As the one hundredth anniversary of Titanic's sinking approaches, this is a good time for your club to read the book and discuss the event. You might also participate in one of the many observances around the world, or visit a Titanic exhibit near...
December 19, 2011
BBC Challenge – Have You Read Six of These Books?
In honor of being Too Busy to Write a Proper Post. Even worse, I stole it from Pagan Peeps.
Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip...
December 14, 2011
New Story, The Farm, at Smashwords
Surprise! To celebrate Yule, I have a present for everyone.
I just published one of my short stories over at Smashwords. It's a holiday story, so for the rest of December, it's free!
It's called The Farm, and it takes place in the Verdandi universe. Yes, I do realize Verdandi hasn't been published, so you don't know anything about that universe. You can fix that a couple of ways:
1. Read the first chapter of Verdandi, here.
2. Go over to Smashwords, download The Farm and read it! Isn't that...
December 8, 2011
KDP Select – Good Idea or Not?
I just saw Amazon's new program for authors and publishers. If you haven't seen it yet, it's here.
My first reaction was, uh… no thanks. Why? Because Amazon wants me to grant them exclusive rights to sell my eBook for 90 days. That means that I would somehow have to stop Smashwords (and all of their distribution channels) from selling my book. I don't even know how to do that, especially on a temporary basis.
Hey, I want my book in as many markets as possible. Why would I pull it out, to...
DIY Wreath
Yesterday, I mentioned that I was going to make my own wreath, using materials in my yard. Full disclosure – I bought a frame and some green wire.
Just wanted to share:
December 7, 2011
Writing Update
It's been a while since given an update on the progress of Bridgebuilders. You know what I'm going to say, right?
"No progress has been made."
Fooled you! I have been working on it. It's spread out over my dining room table at the moment, as I try to put some shape to it. I've made a change in one subplot that requires a rewrite of one chapter. I'm in the middle of that now. The change gives me a good sense of how the conflict should proceed. In addition, I'm getting better idea of how the...
December 6, 2011
They Let Me…
This post over on Mama Birth is seriously brave and true. Read it all the way through, because you can't ignore the responsibility part near the end.
The thing is, parents are the ones responsible even if they do everything the doctor says without a single question. Because if the doctor or hospital totally screws up, guess who who has to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives?
December 4, 2011
Occupy Movement is Evolving, but Needs to Finds Itself Soon
There's a wonderful article in today's Times by columnist Steve Butler. He writes about the Occupy movement, and this is one of the most coherent discussions I've seen about it.
The movement is in danger of spreading itself too thinly by tackling too many issues. Granted, there's a lot of disturbing stuff going on, and all of it should be addressed. But we (the 99%) need to concentrate on a just a few things at a time or we'll just fall all over ourselves at the starting gate. Butler's...
