Lydia Kang's Blog, page 11

Scrivener Part Two

Almost a year and half ago, I blogged about Scrivener. 

There were a lot of positives, and a few negatives. As they say, the proof is in the pudding (which is supposed to mean that you don't know that pudding is good until you eat it, though I prefer to believe it's about whether the yeast has been "proofed" and whether those old bready pudding of yore actually rose, showing the yeast was alive...OMG, I'm totally off point now. And hungry.)

So, do I still use Scrivener? 

Hells, yes.

Here's your proof, and a few screenshots to show what I still love about it:


So here's the basic layout of Scrivener as I use it. On the left is the "binder" view, which shows lists of notes as well as my actual manuscript divided into chapters. I title my chapters according to what's happening in them, so I can move from chapter to chapter without having to search where stuff happens. Although I can do that too, using the search window at the upper right. 

So I love this split-screen view. Below, I have my manuscript text, and above it I have revision notes I refer to without having to look for lost hand-written notes. And notice on the right in the yellow field, there is a place to write notes that are linked to each chapter, so I can remind myself to fix stuff later. The top right lines space are notes where you can summarize the whole chapter if you want, but I'm not that detailed.

This is cool because I had to draw some really basic maps to keep my world straight in my head and I need to refer to them often. I drew them and imported them to this neat corkboard. You can do that with random images too, which is fun. There's also a place where you can built up character portfolios which is super helpful.

So! I'm still using Scrivener for all my first and second drafts. What about you? Any Scrivener tips or other wordprocessing comments about what works best for you?

Paperback release of THE MEMORY OF AFTER by Lenore Appelhans!

Hey guys! Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. No more saggy blogging for me, I'm back and looking forward to posting all sorts of great stuff this month!

Today I'm blogging about today's paperback release of Lenore Appelhans' book THE MEMORY OF AFTER over on the League of Extraordinary Writers blog.

Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't seen this, here's a video of Lenore discussing the book (when it was called LEVEL 2), and if you haven't already you must check out her awesome book blog Presenting Lenore. :)

How my Twitter Experiment got me to 3K followers

This past April, I did this spur-of-the-moment Twitter experiment to see if I could gather up some new followers quickly.

Twitter Experiment: Part deux
Basically, I offered a CONTROL swag giveaway to encourage new followers. You could get entered into the draw if you RT'd or became a new follower.

So. Did it work?

I don't think so! 

I got a good amount of RTs, but honestly? The trajectory with which I gained new followers didn't seem to change. I hit my 3000 follower mark not that much sooner than I expected without the experiment. I was grateful to the RTers and was more than happy to send the swag prizes to five winners who really RT'd their hearts out.

I used to seek out people on twitter when I first started. I'd follow a bunch of people I thought I had something in common with (mostly in the writing world), and hope they followed back. It worked for a while, but I don't have time to search out followers anymore. Also, it felt icky and weird after a while. So how else to gain followers?

I think the best way to get followers is to do the old fashioned good stuff on Twitter.

Interact with people who reach out to you, and who tweet interesting things. (This I need to be better about. I tend to just look at my mentions and not read my feeds.)
Post some original content once in a while, not just RTs and endless conversations with other twitterers. (Okay, I confess I do that all the time. Have endless conversations about, say, Benedict Cumberbatch, or Doctor Who, or being introverted, or what I'm eating. But I like to discuss what I'm eating!)
Be there. I'm not on every hour of the day, but I'm there almost every day. (And yet! I've gotten social media fatigue and been off for a week at a time. Which I'll do for sanity's sake, but not if I can help it.)
Have fun. It shows, and people want to follow people who are enjoying Twitter. This one is easier for me. :)Get creative. A few others and I write poetry using a single medically-related word prompt using the hashtag #twtpoem. It's so energizing and a great way to be creative on Twitter.
Join some Tweet chats once in a while. There are so many--#yalitchat #Lucky13s #theClassof2k13 are regular ones I participate in, but I'll jump into others that are trending if they're interesting.
Don't just tweet about your book, or promo yourself. There's no quicker way to lose followers than to drown in book narcissism. But the opposite isn't the answer either. A little promo is okay!
Mix it up. I cross tweet my Tumblr posts, and my blog posts, obviously. But I'm on Instagram and often take tweet pics of random things I like. I'd love to add some video via Vimeo or something. Maybe later. And I'm still NOT vlogging!
Write a good book. Still hoping this one will pan out. :) Once your published book is out there, people will find you. And that will be (I hope) pretty cool.


So...are you on Twitter? What's your favorite thing about it? Do you have any Tweet Tips to share?

Medical Mondays: INFINITE SKY by C.J. Flood

Hey guys! I've been on vacation and taking a little blog break, but I'm back. I hope you guys have been having a good summer!

Today's Medical Monday is a bit celebratory. Over a year ago, I fielded some questions from Chelsey Flood, another Lucky 13 whose book, INFINITE SKY, finally came out in February of this year in the UK from Simon and Schuster. It's soon to make its U.S. debut in May of 2014.

Here is is:

Here's the hardcover And here's the paperback version Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists. 

When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth? 

When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself. 

Infinite Sky is a family story about betrayal and loyalty, and love.
Without being too spoilery, Chelsey had asked me questions about physical trauma, hospital situations and medications. It was fun and fascinating to read passages of her book prior to publication and help tweak scenes here and there.

And a totally unlooked for perk? Dr. Kang has a cameo in the book!

So if you're looking for an amazing contemporary book with beautiful prose and a story that will really get into your heart (and see how Medical Mondays ended up helping a fellow author), please check it out!

Alibris / Powell's / Amazon
Follow Chelsey on Twitter and her Blog

A True Immortal on Earth

Hey guys! Today I'm blogging over at the League of Extraordinary Writers on one of my favorite books of the year and a really important topic in the scientific community. Please stop by if you can, and thanks!

Newsletters for Authors...Good or Bad?

Happy Monday, and Happy August! 
Summer is disappearing faster than my resistance to succumbing to a newfound Doctor Who obsession. (If you survived that cumbersome sentence, then I congratulate you.)

So today I wanted to talk about Newsletters. You know, those weekly/monthly messages you subscribe to (or didn't, but they come anyway...I'm talking about every single company with whom I've ever made an internet purchase. Yeah, you guys.) resulting in a colorful email that pops into your box and gives updates on stuff?

To tell you the truth, I'm a bit torn on them.

Here's the pros and cons, as I see them.

PROS:
Good for gathering lots of news updates in one formatNice for those who don't regularly check your blog or twitter about newsGreat for family/friends who don't do social media but do emailSites like MailChimp make it easy to produce professional looking newsletters for freeWho really clicks on that NEWS link at the top of your blog/website?If done the right way, the only people who subscribe are the ones who care to read it (as opposed to sending one to everyone on your personal email address list)If they don't like it, they can easily remove themselves from the email list or trash itCONS:Who really reads newsletters, anyway? They just get deleted.Few people will subscribe to them; social media overload is already bad enoughIf people cared about what you were doing, they'd just check your FB/Twitter/WebsiteAnother marketing thing to worry aboutIt takes time to put together (and I'm talking about an informative one that's worth looking over) even if it's made easier by newsletter sitesThey take that whole author-as-salesperson thing a step too far.I subscribe to several newsletters from authors I know. Some I read; some I don't. I'm torn, so in a fit of "I might as well do SOMETHING" I started collecting emails for a newsletter that I may or may not ever send. 
The dreaded sign-up is here. It's actually kind of pretty. Thanks MailChimp. 
But honestly? I don't know if I'll ever use it. Because I would want them to have interesting content, with news that people cared about, and events that people might actually attend. Basically--I'd want to write a newsletter that was worth NOT trashing. 

So for now, I'll keep collecting emails. But be warned--you may never get a newsletter from me. Or worse--you might! 
What are your opinions on email newsletters? Good? Evil? Pixelated shades of gray?

Winners & Chia Pets

Hey guys! Thanks again so much for celebrating my authorial blurbs with the giveaway. Congrats to the three winners:

Sheri Larsen
Jaime Morrow
Ashley Jellison (who really earned this--she tweeted every single day!)

And now, on to chia seeds.

So they're a relatively new thing in healthy eating. I know, I know...can you hear the ads right now?

"Ch-ch-ch-CHIA PETS!"

[image error] If I knew there was a Hello Kitty one, I'd have bought that instead of the pig.
Click here if you have to own this. Now. 
Okay, so who owned one?

*raises hand*

So I was surprised to find chia seeds all over my local Whole Foods in the last few years. I stayed away, until I read up a little more. Some surprising facts:

Chia is native to Mexico and GuatemalaIt was cultivated by the Aztecs as a major food source, as important as maizeSeeds are tiny, smaller than sesame seedsRich in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, and niacin. So I'm not recommending that you eat a pound of chia seeds every day. I just wanted to tell you that lately I've been adding them to my cereal and stuff...
...and I can't get that damn song out of my head. 
Anyways. Happy Thursday, and congrats again to the winners!

Chicken Run & Aging

I hate to complain about aging. I need something better to say these days than "Oh my creaky back."

The other day during a rant on general stiffness, my hubs said, "You're a spring chicken. You're not old."

Well. I'm not really a spring chicken. Hell, I might be summer chicken but only on a good day. And anyway, you know what they did to the hens that stopped laying in Little Town on the Prairie? (And yes, I am a hen that has stopped laying. FYI. Not in the hormonal sense, but in the "baby-oven-is-closed-for-bizness" sense.)

Ma Ingalls made them into chicken pie.

In the words of Babs from the movie Chicken Run (*cue British accent*):

I DON'T WANT TO BE A PIE!(I don't like gravy.)

So there you go. Next time my joints ache or a new wrinkle appears, that's my new mantra.

Hehe.

Oh and hey! In case you missed it...only two days left on my Dashner-Khoury-Johnson Giveaway! 

Also, I'm over at Precious's blog Fragments of Life for an interview on CONTROL plus a swag giveaway! Stop by if you can. :)

Medical Mondays: A Copper Problem

Hey guys!
Back with another Medical Mondays. I haven't been doing these quite as much lately, partly from burn out (they take a while to write and put together). But FYI, behind the scenes I have been fielding LOTS of questions from writers about medical stuff. Most of the time though, the questions aren't quite fitting for actual blog posts, or the authors want to keep the questions super sekret. :) Which is why Medical Mondays has been a little quiet of late.

But I'm going to keep posting when I can. Because this stuff is too fascinating.

So!

A little while back, I did a post on Argyria (silver toxicity). I must be going through a metal phase (cue the head banging. Actually, don't, because OW my neck.)

Today, I wanted to talk about when another metal that can sometimes serious problems--copper.


What do you think of when someone says "copper"? Shiny, good luck pennies? Maybe the greenish tinted roofs of university building (green from oxidation)? How about plumbing pipes?
But not everyone thinks of copper that's inside their bodies. Commence the copper Q & A.
Why is copper needed in the human body?Copper is a trace element needed for in-cell energy production, iron transportation, neurotransmitter production, connective tissue health, and free-radical scavenging. A better way to understand why it's important is to explain what happens when it's not around, hence the next question!
What happens when people get a copper deficiency?They can have bad anemias (low white blood cell [infection fighters] and/or red blood cell [oxygen carriers] numbers). They may get a jerky, unstable walk (ataxia), incoordination, spasticiy, and may lose their vision. Also (as if that weren't enough) it can cause pale skin, brittle light-colored hair, enlarged liver and spleen, weak bones, and mental slowing.
Where is copper found in our diet?Lots of places. The most is found in liver, but you probably get your copper from grains, legumes, fruit, leafy veggies, meat, fish, poultry and nuts. Oh, and chocolate and cherries. (Yeah, I'm not deficient.)
Who gets copper deficiency?Some types of bariatric surgery can cause problems with copper absorption. A zinc overdose* can cause this, and possibly iron overdose. There is a rare disorder called Menkes Disease, which is a hereditary disease causing copper deficiency. Babies on formula without adequate copper supplements and people on dialysis are also at risk. 
I know, it looks like "In Cod We Trust." Or "In Goo We Trust." Apologies.*A note on penniesI always think of pennies being made from mostly of copper, but actually that's not true. Before 1982, most pennies were made of 95% copper; after 1982, they're 99% zinc with a thin copper layer on the outside. (Right now, pennies from 1982 or before are worth more 2-3 cents due to the rising cost of copper). So! If you ate a sack of new pennies, you'd get zinc poisoning, which would also cause a copper deficiency! And if you ate a sack of pre-1982 pennies, you could possibly get copper poisoning. Although acute copper poisoning is really rare. And anyway, you're already in pretty bad shape, psychiatrically, if you feel you need to eat a sack of pennies. I'll just leave it at that. 
What about copper toxicity?Copper toxicity can happen acutely or over time. With acute toxicity, people can have bloody vomit or diarrhea, and in severe cases, heart, liver, kidney failure and death. With chronic (or slow) toxicity, problems can build up over time, such as cirrhosis of the liver, jaundice, heart problems, diabetes (because it affects the pancreas) and neurologic problems. 
What causes chronic copper toxicity?Wilson's disease is a heritable disease (1 in 30,000 babies) that causes accumulation of copper in tissues. Besides some of the symptoms above, a classic finding is a ring of an orangey deposit of copper around the iris, called a Keyser-Fleisher ring. 
Every med student knows this image, but few have seen it in real practice.How else can a person get copper toxicity?Food cooked or stored in unlined copper cookware can cause leaching of copper into food. Drinking water from contaminated water source, children accidentally ingesting copper objects, and using copper salt-containing creams can also cause toxicity. So if you have a nice aluminum coated copper pan you cook with and the lining is wearing through, don't use it!
Okay. Well that might be enough copper-infused info to last the rest of your life! And remember--don't eat those pennies!
Medical Mondays is a series intended to help writers with their fictional scenarios. Please check out the boring but necessary disclaimer on my sidebar. :)

(photos from Wikipedia)


Oh, and if you haven't already, please enter my Dashner-Johnson-Khoury Blurb Celebration Giveaway! I'm giving away three books! :)

A Mighty Dashner-Johnson-Khoury Giveaway and Blurb News!

I've gotten some pretty wonderful author blurbs lately for CONTROL that I wanted to share.  I feel so, so honored and thankful. The whole asking-for-blurb thing is terrifically scary, let me tell you. I've two to add to the James Dashner blurb I received when my book cover was revealed on YABC (which was already fan-freaking-tastic) but these new ones just made me want to cry. So here they are:
“CONTROL is a masterful debut, filled with everything I love in a novel: mystery, danger, and romance. Kang has crafted a world readers can easily fall into and won't want to leave, complete with flawed yet loveable characters. I couldn't put it down!"  --Elana Johnson, author of Possession
"Surprising twists, tender romance, and a fierce, smart protagonist make for a winning formula in Kang's debut. CONTROL is tautly woven and breathlessly delivered—a thrilling read!” --Jessica Khoury, author of Origin

And in case you haven't seen this one from James, here it is:

“Control blew me away. The twists and turns and suspense made for a thrilling ride. Zel is as authentic a character as I’ve read in a very long time. Highly recommended.”  --James Dashner, NYT bestselling author of The Maze Runner Trilogy

So to celebrate my thankfulness, I'm giving away some awesome books!

There will be three winners: 

One will win an Elana Johnson book of their choice.
One will win Jessica Khoury book of their choice.
One will win a James Dashner book of their choice.

And...if the book you want isn't quite out yet (like James's upcoming THE EYE OF MINDS, or Jessica's VITRO) I'll pre-order it for you. :)

Giveaway ends on July 31st. Open internationally. 


A taste of what you could win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway