Kae Cheatham's Blog: Whoa! Another Author?, page 11

Irksome Microsoft Event

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I decided to do something different this morning with my exercise program. Rather than turn on the TV (and satellite and DVD--they're all on the same surge protector, which I turn off each night) I plugged in my laptop and popped in the exercise DVD. All seemed just fine, until a third of the way along when the picture went blank--no sound.

A message on the laptop screen informed me that Microsoft was updating my system "Please Wait." A few seconds later the machine rebooted itself.

I was rather aggravated with this irksome event and flipped the switch for the 3-part TV system. When the laptop chimed its "I'm ready" jingle, it didn't return me to the DVD with which I'd been stretching and moving, so I removed the disc and proceeded as I always do--with the TV/dish/DVD.

Although my morning routine was slightly askew, I'm glad this happened. I plan to take the laptop to the Art show I'm in this weekend. There I will connect to the Internet and my online gallery with hopes customers will make orders at this site that produces my work in a variety of sizes--even on canvas!-- matted and/or framed. Now I am aware that some Microsoft functionality event might snafu the page. At least I'll know what's happening if it happens.

Anonymous - Does It Matter?

With the movie due to open this month, I've given thought to the anonymity or not of writers--more specifically, the works they create. "A rose by any other name..." Is that true? Or does it matter whether the person listed as the author really wrote the piece?

This smacks of some sort of heresy for me to even think this, but don't the written tomes stand for themselves with their engaging manner or philosophic overtones--creative word usage, and mind-challenging presentations?

Ach! No. It can't be that simple. I'm a writer and a photographer, and it is very disturbing to think that someone else would take credit for my creative idea and the hard work of developing its presentation. But it happens...unfortunately more often than we know...and it's not just the creative spirit of an artist (writer, lyricist, painter, photographer, et. al.) that is being stolen, but the monetary rewards for the original thinker.

Plagarism is a reality, and not restricted to overwrought college students trying for a good grade. It flourishes in the broader scheme of the consumer public. It's a subtle form of identity theft. A nationwide effort is currently underway to curtail the blatant money-making plagiarism of one person, David Boyer. Although reported several times over that last few years, he still grabs up writings of others and republishes them under his name. I lend my support to the effort to get him stopped and hope that you will, too.

Incentive for reading

Well, even with my dearth of summer book reading, I'm still 2% ahead of my GoodReads goal. I thought the summer activities had keyed down enough that I'd have time for books, so I checked out five from the PL.

Three weeks later I get and e-mail--"Your books are overdue." Oops. :( I had started two (never got past page 50), and the rest were still in my book bag.

I promptly returned the books and paid my 1-day fine. No renewals. I could tell I wasn't ready.

Now the weather is turning (cool and wet), so maybe my incentive for reading will increase. I'm pretty sure I'll reach my GR goal.

Social Networking Effectiveness

Right now, I don't have it.

At least not online. My blogs and group/forum posts have languished as summer activities took precedents.

But these summer events were effective offline social networking. I met and talked with hundreds of people, sold photos, sold books, landed a speaking engagement, and made new friends.

Now the season has changed and I'm back to the other side of this innovative modern outreach.

More to come.

Interview at Writing Out West

I'm pleased to be the subject of an author interview at Writing Out West, the blog of Western author Linda Sandifer. Stop by her blog and leave a comment. It will be nice to hear from you.

Let Us Prey - Review

[I received Let Us Prey from the author when I accepted her request to review this book.]

It's a mystery, It's chick-lit, it's romance. Jamie Lee Scott's Let Us Prey has it all. Mimi Capurro is the first-person protagonist, a recently widowed thirty-something who has started Gotcha Detective Agency in Salinas, California. Her employees are a good mix of characters—believable and well drawn. All the characters are nicely crafted, including author Lauren Silke, who hires Gotcha to investigate possible threats against her. But rather than Lauren, it's that woman's assistant who is gruesomely killed; Mimi's investigation switches focus.

The mystery, who killed Esme Bailey, has many suspects; many of them are male, to whom Mimi responds with varying levels of libido. Police procedure comes into play, with the assistance of one of Mimi's college sweethearts, Nick Christianson (go hormones, go!). Nick is a police detective with the Salinas PD. They perform the Attract-and-Aggravate Romance dance as they step on each other's toes during the investigation. This is nicely handled.

I had worried at first that the vampire aspect would take over the story; it didn't. Vampire books are what Lauren Silke writes, and many of the suspects participate in a vampire RPG. I did have a problem with a few plot elements, especially why threats and aggression were directed at Mimi? Although I had a good sense of Mimi's fear and anger, the reason she was a target wasn't adequately explained for me. I truly appreciated that all the scenes had a point and related in some way to the mystery&mdsh;nothing seemed thrown in only for the sake of drama, romance or hype. Scott's Let Us Prey is a fun, well-written read, and a good beginning to a new mystery series.

On a scale of 5: +3 for originality, +5 character development, +4 pace and story flow; +3 edits and format

A Bit About Book Reviews

I've recently read a bunch of comments on forums and groups about the content in book reviews. I write book reviews, and I also write books, so I understand what prompts concerns. The public reviewers that I find on the book-sale sites often offer glowing recommendations to the point of disbelief. When I see the same reviewers constantly giving five-stars, I wonder: 1) are they being paid? and 2) do they truly read the book? Or perhaps, they only want to give praise, and never post about books they didn't absolutely love.

As a writer, I grin when seeing five-star reviews on my works, but I also like to read the less flattering reviews—a chance to learn something I can fix in other things I write. But then, there are reviewers who are terse and rude. Not fun to read—neither on my book page nor someone else's.

I also review books, and I try to be objective when I do so. But writing a book review is like trying to review of a chef salad. You can take parts of it and make comments: the dressing was too tart, the mild cheeses—very good, the lettuces could have been more crisp and I wanted more radicchio. Then you sum it all up to a total of some kind. That total is a whim of the salad eater. Some people don't like radicchio, and other like their cheeses more aged.

Here's what I look for in a salad—er—book. I grade on a five-point scale for 1) originality: is this a typical genre story or does it offer something new and different?; 2) character development: consistency for each character in voice, emotions and description with each character being distinctive; 3) pace and story flow: as in a salad, I like it when the tart is offset by the sweet, the crunch with the smooth, and when it's all relative to the whole; 4) edits and format: grammar, spelling and sentence structure must be correct and word-choice appropriate for the scenes; the layout (this especially in electronic editions) should allow the reader to progress through the book without a hitch.

I don't read a book, thinking critically about these elements. Usually the negatives sort of jump up and slap me (inaccurate spelling and grammar, rough transitions, head-hopping). Some readers can breeze right by these things that I consider imperfections, but I'm also and editor, so I see all this stuff. Parts of a book that I delight in, usually come to me after I've finished reading the whole piece. I sit back and I think, that was nicely done.

When I write the review, I give a thumbnail of the plot and avoid spoilers. I try to address each of the elements I think important, and if I criticize, I like to explain why. For review readers, particularly the authors, I hope they remember that what I write is a single opinion. Let's face it, if everyone liked the same thing the same way, reading books would be pretty boring.

Here are a related articles I posted a while back on my Get It Together blog: Writing a Book Review, and Criticism Can Sting

You can find a list of reviews I've posted on this blog here or by clicking "book review" in the lables (right side).

A Witness Above - Review

I bought the e-book version of A Witness Above after reading an interview on Kindle Author. The setting intrigued me, as well as the mystery, and I wasn't disappointed. I was engaged from page one and recommend it to any mystery fan.

From the promo blurbs: "Thirteen years ago, Frank Pavlicek left the NYPD under less than ideal circumstances. Now, the divorced father of a teenage daughter, he works as a private investigator in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he indulges his passion for falconry&emdash;and tries to live outside the shadow of his past.
"While hunting with his red-tailed hawk, Armistead, Frank finds the gruesome remains of a teenage boy's body – barely concealed behind a pile of brush...But what Frank finds in the dead boy's wallet is even more disturbing—his daughter's phone number, scribbled in ink on the edge of a bill. He pockets the evidence and flees. Days later, his daughter is in jail and his past is coming back to haunt him. His reputation--and life--are on the line…"

Andy Straka's protagonist, Frank Pavlicek, is a strong character, with emotional depth and realistic concerns. That Straka got all this out in a first-person presentation credits his writing ability. I often avoid first-person stories, because they're come off a bit vapid. Not here. Word choice and descriptions were vivid, and the action moved well. Although I knew who the perp was right at the beginning, I was interested in seeing how Pavlicek figured it out.

Details about falconry were nice; I always like to learn new things. Straka worked this into the story quite well, right from the title.

A Witness Above was a Best First Novel-Anthony, Shamus, and Agatha Award Nominee.

Did You Miss Me?

Ha ha.

Blogging has been low on my to-do list. Summertime usually finds me away from my computer more than other seasons because of Art shows, travel, soccer matches to watch--many of soccer matches (yea!).

And then a few household complications: I took this photo as the late-June storm raged through and had just flipped my 12'x18'x9' hay shed onto its roof.

I read today a possible explanation.

Definition of a Gustnado, from the National Weather Service:
A slang term for a short-lived, ground-based, shallow, vortex that develops on a gust front associated with either thunderstorms or showers. They may only extend to 30 to 300 feet above the ground with no apparent connection to the convective cloud above. They may be accompanied by rain, but usually are 'wispy', or only visible as a debris cloud or dust whirl at or near the ground. Wind speeds can reach 60 to 80 mph, resulting in significant damage, similar to that of a F0 or F1 tornado. However, gustnadoes are not considered to be a tornado, and some cases, it may be difficult to distinguish a gustnado from a tornado. Gustnadoes are not associated with storm-scale rotation (i.e. mesocyclones) that is involved with true tornadoes; they are more likely to be associated visually with a shelf cloud that is found on the forward side of a thunderstorm.

70mph winds had occurred in the area and other spotty serious damage, too (such as 80'-tall Douglas Fir trees ripped up).

Insurance is covering the shed replacement, but I had to clean up debris and ready the area for the new structure; I started dismantling the old shed last week.

Ah, the rural life! (excuses, excuses)

My Special Library

No. Not my personal at-home library. It's quite small because I rely on the Lewis and Clark Library downtown for my hard-copy reading material. The library was established in 1868. It's a great place, which has national recognition: chosen to receive a National Endowment of the Arts grant for the "Big Read."

With all the thousands of libraries throughout the country, to be one of seventy-six to receive this grant is pretty special.