Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 132
August 14, 2015
How to Write a Novel with 140 Characters
I’m a teacher, have been for 35 years. I teach a lesson to my Middle School students that uses Twitter to improve their writing skills. There’s a lot this popular social media tool can bring to the education world:
it’s non-intimidating. Anyone can get through 140 characters
it forces students to focus on concise, pithy writing. Wasted, fluff words are not an option
it’s fun. Students want to try it because it’s the ‘forbidden fruit’
I also have a class that kickstarts the author in students, getting them set up to write and digitally publish the book that festers inside of them (well, statistics say 73% of us have an internal book screaming to get out).
What I haven’t done is blend the two: Write a novel on Twitter.
Anna over at Imaginette reminded me that I should. She’s not the only one, either, who thinks Twitter is an excellent forum for novel writing. Japan popularized it as the microblogging novel or the micro novel. Wikipedia defines it as:
…a fictional work or novel written and distributed in small parts
Just to be clear: We’re talking about squeezing all those novel parts that we writers slave over…
plot
pacing
character development
theme
story arc
scene
…into 140 characters. Is that even possible? I’d croak a resounding ‘No!’, but the Guardian persuaded twenty-one accomplished authors to try their hand at this. Here’s a sampling:
James Meek
‘He said he was leaving her. “But I love you,” she said. “I know,” he said. “Thanks. It’s what gave me the strength to love somebody else.”
Ian Rankin
I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Somehow you’d found out about the photos. My jaw hit the floor.
Blake Morrison
Blonde, GSOH, 28. Great! Ideal mate! Fix date. Tate. Nervous wait. She’s late. Doh, just my fate. Wrong candidate. Blond – and I’m straight.
David Lodge
“Your money or your life!” “I’m sorry, my dear, but you know it would kill me to lose my money,” said the partially deaf miser to his wife.
Jilly Cooper
Tom sent his wife’s valentine to his mistress and vice versa. Poor Tom’s a-cold and double dumped.
Rachel Johnson
Rose went to Eve’s house but she wasn’t there. But Eve’s father was. Alone. One thing led to another. He got 10 years.
Andrew O’Hagan
Clyde stole a lychee and ate it in the shower. Then his brother took a bottle of pills believing character is just a luxury. God. The twins.
AL Kennedy
It’s good that you’re busy. Not great. Good, though. But the silence, that’s hard. I don’t know what it means: whether you’re OK, if I’m OK.
Jeffrey Archer
“It’s a miracle he survived,” said the doctor. “It was God’s will,” said Mrs Schicklgruber. “What will you call him?” “Adolf,” she replied.
Surprisingly good. Are you inspired? Here are some tips on Twitter novels from Be a Better Writer:
Think token action, dialogue and description. Not this: He sat and looked at the pistol for a full ten minutes before he grasped it and experienced the icy weight of his first semi-automatic. Rather: Gun in hand, he shot.
Think installments. Releasing the novel over time increases suspense. Douglas Sovern released 1600 tweets at the rate of about 5 to 12 a day.
Think multimedia and add links to images, video, articles or anything else that will add meaning to the story. A Twitter novel allows you to combine text with other media.
Think movement. Every tweet should advance the plot. You don’t want your readers ignoring tweets out of boredom.
I’m well over 140 characters, so I’m done. You can get ideas by searching #twitternovels.
–first published on Today’s Author
More on writing genres:
10 Tips for Picture Book Writers
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman
, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: Genre tips Tagged: characters, descriptions, writing
August 12, 2015
29+ Ways to Market Your Book
At a recent #IWSG confab, I was whining to online friends about the difficulty of marketing my books. I got a long list of great comments, both on the blog and via emails from writers who have approaches that worked well for them.
To share these with you and then continue the conversation, I chose a Google Spreadsheet. If you’re familiar with Excel, it’s quite like that, but easier to share out and collaborate on.
Using this method, we can:
read about everyone’s thoughts
share ideas by clicking the link and adding contributions to the bottom of the spreadsheet (it’s set to share and edit)
repost the spreadsheet to your blog where you collect ideas from your readers. Those will automatically be shared on this same spreadsheet, meaning they’ll appear on my post here (and my readers’ contributions will appear on your blog). If we can repost this to lots of blogs, the list should become a comprehensive litany of what we writers do to get the good word out.
Here’s the link, to visit, collaborate, and reshare:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GLOj04FF6OPkgzGInGFK78vExz_Yjto_ECLCfq9EBRg/edit?usp=sharing
If you have comments, please add them! If you have contributions, please click through to the spreadsheet and append them to the bottom row.
More on marketing:
4 Reasons You Want a PLN and 13 Ways to Build One
Top Ten Marketing Tips for Your Ebook
5 Top Steps to Market Your Books this Summer
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: marketing
August 10, 2015
14 Tips From Cliff
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
This list is from Cliff. As far as I can tell, Cliff is like you and me–a writer, enjoying himself, sharing his knowledge–although he has over 2 million hits on his website which is decidedly unlike me. His Twitter profile reads:
Dr. Cliff Pickover, author of 40+ books, science, science fiction, technology, strange reality, futurism, innovation, mathematics, future of publishing
He’s written on diverse subjects and put together a nice website of all sorts of suggestions. Some hit me as exactly what I was doing wrong. Read through them. See if you get that feeling:
1. Show Not Tell
It’s better to show through a character’s actions than “tell” by having the narrator describe. Please do not “tell.”
Example 1: “Garth became nervous” is “telling.” It is better to “show” with: “Garth’s hands trembled.”
Example 2: “Garth did not want to go down the hall with the Major” is “telling.” It is better to “show” with: “What?” Garth said, “There’s no way in hell I’m going with you!”
Body Movement
Occasional reference to body movement and scene interaction is important so that characters are not disembodied talking heads. It’s also important to occasionally use body movement before a person talks, in order to establish who is talking.
Example:
“When are you going to leave for France?” John asked.
could be cast as:
John took a slow breath. “When are you going to leave for France?”
(Many times beginning authors make it hard to figure out who is talking, but a quick reference to body movement before the speaker speaks makes it all clear.)
Short Better Than Long
In real life, people often talk in short sentences and phrases, rather than in long drawn-out sentences with big words. Another dialog tip: use contractions often. For example, a character may be more apt to say “I’ll” than “I will.”
Break the Dialog
Always insert a “he said” or “she said” as early as possible into a line of dialog (if a “he said” is even needed at all).
Example:
Never do: “Yes, I will kill him, but not until you buy the peaches for dinner,” he said.
Instead do:
“Yes,” he said, “I will kill him, but not until you buy the peaches for dinner.”
Use Active Voice
Don’t say: “The paper was placed on the wall by the doctor.” Use active voice: “The doctor placed the paper on the wall.”
Avoid Omniscient Narrator
Books have more immediacy if you stay within one character’s head and therefore the narrator does not have knowledge of what other people are thinking. For example, if you are in Jake’s head, we are in Jake’s head for most of the book. We can’t suddenly know how Melinda is feeling. Jake doesn’t read her mind. We can suggest how she feels through Jake’s opinions and what he sees and hears, and what she says and does. (Some people use an omniscient narrator, but the best books avoid it.)
Don’t Rush The Scene
If a scene sounds rushed, with too little attention to detail and texture, then more words are needed to draw out the action and suspense.
Natural Dialog
If you are unsure if the dialog sounds natural, read it out loud to yourself. This is a great way to make sure the dialog is natural.
Involve All Senses
To really get the reader involved, try to stimulate more of the reader’s senses. For example, if you’ve gone ten pages without stimulating the reader (and character in the book) with an odor, or tactile feeling, sound, or taste, the book will have less immediacy.
Use “Said”
I notice some beginning writers seem to dislike using “said” and try to replace the word “said” with words like commanded, remarked, uttered, began, etc. Perhaps they feel that too many “saids” stick out. However, you don’t have to be afraid of using too many “saids.” In fact, it is much worse to try substitutions. The best writers use “said” almost all the time and let the dialog convey the meaning. For example,
“Get out of here now!” he commanded.
is much worse than
“Get out of here now!” he said.
The word “commanded” is an unnecessary distraction. In any case, it’s obvious the sentence is a command. When readers read “said”, their eyes barely pause. The “said” goes almost unnoticed. This is what you want. Replacement words, such as “remarked”, stick out obtrusively, which is what you don’t want. For these reasons, some authors don’t even use “he asked” for questions; rather they do: “Where is it?” he said.
11. Don’t Begin To
Don’t have your characters “begin to do something,” “try to do something,” and so forth. Just have them do it. Example: “Mary began to skip down the block.” Change to “Mary skipped down the block.”
Avoid “as he”
Avoid excessive “as he” constructs. Example: “Mary turned on the TV as she thought all the time about Joe.” Change to: “Mary turned on the TV, thinking all the time about Joe.” Or, better yet: “Mary turned on the TV and thought about Joe.”
Provide Character Reactions
Example: When something is said or done to a character that is out of the ordinary, have the character respond. New writers often forget to show the responses of characters before moving on with the plot.
Which or That?
Use “which” with a comma when the phrase seems as if it could easily be set off with parentheses and make sense. Examples with “that” and “which”: 1) I like dogs that bark. 2) I like the German Shepherd species, which has pointed ears, a tan coat, and teeth that rip.
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More tips on writing from authors:
Writers Tip #67: Three Tips from Carl Zimmer
Writers Tip #68: Three Tips From David Shenk
Writers Tip #69: 5 Tips From Cory Doctorow
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: writers resources, writers tips Tagged: writers resources, writers tips
August 7, 2015
Book Review: The ZigZag Girl
The Zig Zag Girl
by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 4 of 5 starts
The ‘Zig Zag Girl‘ (Houghton Mifflin 2015) is Elly Griffiths’ first in her new series, Magic Men Mysteries. Griffiths, acclaimed author of the Ruth Galloway series and winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award, is a powerful writer with a knack for putting readers in her character’s skin, feeling their emotions and worrying with them as they ponder their next step. I read several of the Galloway novels, but got tired of the opinionated and independent Galloway (I know; I’m in the minority).
But I didn’t tire of Griffiths’ gritty voice, nor her everyman approach to solving problems. When ‘Zig Zag Girl‘ showed up in my Vine queue (where I receive free pre-publication copies of novels), I ordered it. This story is set in the 1950s when WWII still cast a deep shadow over lives. A group of soldiers whose weapon during the War was the use of deception and misdirection to confuse the Germans found themselves the target of a serial killer who was modeling his/her murders after popular magic tricks (like the Zig Zag Girl).
In true Griffiths’ style, there’s as much about the characters, their emotions and reactions, as forward movement in the plot. Readers spend a lot of time getting to know these individuals, which is fine: They are quite interesting. Part of this journey is substantial flashbacks to their war years, especially during the book’s first half. It’s clear the past will play as big a part in this mystery as the people these former soldiers have become. This is strengthened by the fact that Griffiths writes in omniscient third person–we are privy to every quibble and doubt experienced by the two main characters, Inspector Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. This–for me–slows the plot down. I have to re-orient myself each time I switch to another perspective, trying to determine who knows this set of facts and who is yet to discover them. In the end, the story is as much about outgrowing dreams as solving a murder.
There are many reasons to read this book, but for me, the historic descriptions of life after WWII, policing before technology took over, and the crumbling world of a vaudeville magician was right at the top. It’s a fresh, new take on part of history I have never before experienced.
If you’d like to purchase this book from Amazon, click the image below:
More historic fiction reviews:
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: book reviews
August 5, 2015
#IWSG–None of My Marketing Seems to Work
This post is for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writers Support Group (click the link for details on what that means and how to join. You will also find a list of bloggers signed up to the challenge that are worth checking out. The first Wednesday of every month, we all post our thoughts, fears or words of encouragement for fellow writers.
This month’s insecurity – None of my marketing seems to work.
This is for my non-fiction books. Not to say they aren’t selling, but I’d like to increase that and have failed miserably in doing so:
I’ve tried all sorts of SEO on the website to increase traffic, both paid and free, to no avail.
I signed on to Google’s Adwords (where they show those text ads next to search results) and spent a ridiculous amount of money, to no avail.
I signed on to Amazon’s version of Adwords–got no increased traffic.
I sell all my books on Google Play–which I thought would easily compete with Amazon. It’s not even close.
I’ve tried a wide variety of those ‘list your books for free on our marketplace’ sort of sites. Nada.
I’ve made all sorts of changes to my social media platforms (I have a ton of them–which takes lots of time to manage) with nothing to show for it.
What does work:
Amazon
Teachers Pay Teachers
word-of-mouth
There are a lot of active approaches I could try–
presentations
book signings
seminars
…but they require much more investment of time with no assurance of either success (will anyone show up?) or results. I seem to have stagnated. I’m frustrated.
I will soon (maybe six months) start marketing my first fiction book and want a better feel for what works. What’s been most successful for you?
More IWSG articles:
Am I good enough? Does it matter?
When does technical become boring
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: writers, writing Tagged: insecure writers group, iwsg
August 3, 2015
Book Review: The Wine and Chocolate Workout
Good friend, Greta Boris, self-published a book called The Wine and Chocolate Workout“. Wine puts me to sleep and chocolate gives me migraines, but I wanted to support my writer buddy so asked if I could read it, maybe host her on WordDreams. I sat outside in my backyard, eating my lunch under a California sun, thinking I’d page through it and get a sense of the topic (after all, those two words have never been in the same sentence with ‘workout’ in my lifetime) before I did a deep read.
I was sold on the first page.
“It’s a book about how to change your waistline by changing your life. I want people to know they don’t have to deprive themselves, give up everything they love to eat, or do boring workouts in windowless rooms.”
And that in two sentences sums up what this book’s about: You can eat your favorite foods and still be fit.
Here are a few questions I posed to Greta as I finished the book:
Without any spoilers can you tell readers what wine and chocolate have to do with working out?
The Wine and Chocolate Workout is the foodie’s health plan. In my experience, if people have to give up all their favorite things – like wine and chocolate – they’re not going to stick with any program. Wine and chocolate represent healthy decadence to me. For you maybe it’s beer and brats, or macaroni and cheese, the point is you can have your treats and be fit and healthy. Life is no fun if it’s full of deprivation.
You’ve had a few blockbuster marketing ideas as you rolled out your book. Can you tell my readers two clever gimmicks you tried that worked
I’m not sure blockbuster is the word I’d use, but I have had some sales by focusing on other businesses and vendors who work with my target market. I’ve sold the book in candy stores by putting it in the gourmet chocolate section. I sold several hundred copies to a massage chain at Mother’s Day. They put the books into a gift basket with chocolate and a massage gift card.
Some of my future plans are to send e-copies of the book to wineries that have tasting rooms and boutiques. Also, I included a resource section at the end of my book. I will be sending copies to everyone listed in that section and I’m hoping to create relationships that way.
I’m very into covers (because I’ll be looking for my own soon). I know you’ve revised your book. Did you change the cover? Why? Why not?
I did not change the cover when I revised the book. I took my book to the L.A. Book Fair a few years ago and it flew off the table. I sold seven or eight books in a half hour just because people walking by were attracted to the cover and the title. Having a cover professionally designed is huge. I also recommend looking at the bestselling books in your genre or category and mimicking what they’re doing.
I did change my tag line, however. The old tag line was “Eat, Drink, and Lose Weight”. The book really isn’t about losing weight. It’s about getting fit and healthy. For some that means losing weight. For others it doesn’t. My new tag line is “Sip, Savor, and Strengthen for a Healthier Life,” which I think sums up the message of the book much better.
Your book is oft-quoted as a ‘humorous approach’ to wine, chocolate and working out. Can you share some fun experiences you had as you wrote the book?
My book began as a series of lecture notes for the healthy lifestyle classes I was teaching. One of the things I learned working with people of all ages and in all stages of life is they have a lot of shame when they are not in the kind of shape they think they should be. A great antidote to shame is humor.
I loved to tell clients about the time I was teaching a kick boxing class and “upper-cutted” myself in the jaw. I saw stars. Another time I face-planted off a stability ball in front of a room full of people and came up with a swollen lip. When people realize the teacher is as big a goof as they are it gives them hope.
This reads like a workbook, with four months of specific tasks to reach your goals. Am I reading that right? Can you elaborate?
When I began my career as a personal trainer and health coach I threw all my exercise and nutritional enthusiasm at my clients in their first appointment. I wanted them to embrace a whole new way of living in an hour. As you can imagine, I lost a lot of people.
Over the years I learned that small changes you can stick with add up to big results over time. In The Wine and Chocolate Workout I’ve laid out a proven pattern for taking painless, incremental steps toward fitness.
Greta Boris, Wellness Coach for twenty plus years and now full-time writer, understands the ups and downs of life and fitness. She’s worked with people of all shapes, sizes, and ages in fitness centers, medical practices and through her own coaching business. She writes to inspire, entertain, motivate, and to be able to afford nice wine. Please visit her at http://gretaboris.com and pick up free work pages for The Wine and Chocolate Workout.
If you’d like to purchase this book from Amazon, click the image below:
More on self-published authors:
A Chat with Author, CW Spooner
The Wit and Wisdom of Peter Wells
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: authors, book reviews
July 31, 2015
Tech Tip for Writers #75: What’s My IP Address
Tech Tips for Writers is an occasional post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
We discussed phishing earlier this week. This Tech Tip is a follow-on:
Q:I need my computer’s IP address, but I don’t know where to find it. Help!
A: Let’s start with why you might need your IP address. Here are a few reasons:
your Web hosting company asked you for the IP address to troubleshoot your internet connection or an email problem.
you fear your computer’s internet access has been hacked so want to know where it last occurred. How’s that work? My IP address is different at home than at the local free WiFi–even if I use the same computer in both places. An IP address isn’t assigned to my computer; it’s assigned to how/where I access the internet with my computer. That means, if I’m hacked, I can (in theory) track back to the hacker by the IP address they used. I did this recently when my Gmail was hacked. Gmail has a nice security function that tells you the last several locations from which you logged into your account. One was–as expected–my home IP in California. Another–the same morning–was from Turkey. Gee, I wasn’t visiting Turkey that morning or… ever.
link your printer (or other digital device) to your computer. Sure, it’s supposed to do this automatically, but it doesn’t always work. When you have problems, you can plug the printer IP address in (found through your printer’s menus) and manually make the connection.
to verify legitimacy–I constantly get alerts from MailChimp (my email newsletter tool) about activity on a particular IP address. They want me to verify it is legitimate. Since I know my IP address, I can.
There are lots of places online that provide your IP address for free, in nanoseconds. Here’s one: My IP Address.com .
More about security:
Questions you want answered? Email me at askatechteacher@structuredlearning.net and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: tech tips for writers, writers tips Tagged: security
July 27, 2015
7 Tips to Avoid Email Phishing
‘Phishing’ is an attempt to steal your personal information by posing as a trusted source (a friend, your bank–like that). Kaspersky reports that spam accounted for 66% of email last year. Of that number, phishing tripled. Why? Because it works. This is not to be taken lightly. Best case, it can shut your email down while you clear the problem. Worst case, you can lose your identity, your income, and your peace of mind. Here are some hints:
don’t blindly trust your virus protection. It can only keep you safe from known problems. Softpedia reports that new malware designed to infect Android devices appears every 17 seconds. I wonder how many there are for iPhones, Windows-based devices, Macs?
don’t open attachments to unexpected emails–especially from strangers. Every attachment has the potential to include malware or Trojans that silently burrow into your computer’s data and send it back to its master. Request that the sender embed the attachment contents if possible into the message portion of the email so you can preview it. Truthfully, I open lots of attachments, but they’re always expected. When someone I know sends me an unexpected attachment, I ask them to include a code (something no one would expect, like their initials) in the first line of the email so I know it’s legit.
don’t click links in emails–especially from strangers. I routinely make exceptions with this if it’s from someone I know and/or an expected email. DO NOT EVER click links from a financial institution no matter how legit it looks. Spammers are very good at spoofing legit financial institution websites, and thus persuading you to enter your highly-private user name and password. Enter the website independent of the email if you feel it requires attention.
check the email address of the sender. Does it match the name? Does it look representative of the sender (for example, would Wells Fargo use an email address like wellsfargo@yahoo.com)?
check for misspellings and misphrasings. Often, spammers aren’t fluent in your native language and make mistakes.
if you know the sender, does the email you just received from them sound like their communication style? If not, send them a quick note to ask if they just contacted you.
if the email passes all of these tests and you’re prepared to click on a link, PAUSE FOR ONE MORE TEST: Hover over the link and see what the address is. If it doesn’t match what the text says or doesn’t look legitimate, don’t click.
Sure, these six steps take time, but they’ll save you money, grief, and stress when you avoid a problem.
For more, here’s what Discovery.com suggests to avoid being victimized by phishing, and here’s Johnson and Wales’ response to heightened phishing they experienced at their University.
More safety tips:
How to Teach Internet Safety in K-6
What Online Parental Controls Work?
29 Steps to Internet Safety for Kids
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: bloggers resources Tagged: security
July 25, 2015
Cover Reveal: Hot Pink in the City
Writing the novel is only half the work. The other piece is getting the good word out. One method is what’s called ‘cover reveals’. Today, I’ve joined Medeia Sharif for a cover release explosion on her latest book, Hot Pink in the City:
HOT PINK IN THE CITY, Prizm Books, 2015
Author: Medeia Sharif
Release date: August 19, 2015
Asma Bashir wants two things: a summer fling and her favorite ’80s songs. During a trip to New York City to stay with relatives, she messes up in her pursuit of both. She loses track of the hunk she met on her airplane ride, and she does the most terrible thing she could possibly do to her strict uncle…ruin his most prized possession, a rare cassette tape. A wild goose chase around Manhattan and Brooklyn to find a replacement tape yields many adventures—blackmail, theft, a chance to be a TV star, and so much more. Amid all this turmoil, Asma just might be able to find her crush in the busiest, most exciting city in the world.
Find Medeia – YA and MG Author
Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Filed under: book reviews, marketing Tagged: cover reveal
July 23, 2015
Writer-Teacher? Join Me For an Online Class
If you’re a writer and a teacher, we have a lot in common. I’ve published over a hundred books/ebooks on teaching in today’s classroom. At my other blog (Ask a Tech Teacher), I talk a lot about teaching, technology, and balancing the two. I write on organic topics, publish how-to’s on everything from using images to running a Genius Hour, and teach online webinars and classes.
In fact, I have two classes coming up:
The Tech-infused Teacher: The 21st Century Digitally-infused Teacher
College credit (MTI 562)
Next class: July 27th, 2015
Next: September, 2015
(email askatechteacher@gmail.com for more information)
The 21st Century lesson blends technology with teaching to build a collaborative, differentiated, and shared learning environment. In this course, you will use a suite of digital tools to make that possible while addressing overarching concepts like digital citizenship, internet search and research, authentic assessment, digital publishing, and immersive keyboarding. You will actively collaborate, share knowledge, provide constructive feedback to classmates, publish digitally, and differentiate for unique needs. Classmates will become the core of your ongoing Personal Learning Network.
Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials.
Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects, so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker.
Differentiation: How Technology Makes Differentiation Fast and Easy
College credit (MTI 563)
Next class: August 10, 2015
Differentiation in the classroom means meeting students where they are most capable of learning. It is not an extra layer of work, rather a habit of mind for both teacher and student. Learn granular approaches to infusing differentiation into all of your lesson plans, whether you’re a Common Core school or not, with this hands-on, interactive class. Ideas include visual, audio, video, mindmaps, infographics, graphic organizers, charts and tables, screenshots, screencasts, images, games and simulations, webtools, and hybrid assessments.
Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials.
Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects, so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker.
Others you might like (that are coming soon):
20 Webtools in 25 Days (How to Find Webtools that Serve Your Classroom)
College credit
Next class: email askatechteacher@gmail.com to be notified when available)
Participants will explore twenty popular digital tools educators are using in their classrooms to extend learning and differentiate for student needs. Participants will review between one and four during the five-week class (by themselves or in groups) and present their review to classmates in a weekly Google Hangout. Participants will respond to the reviews of their classmates with comments, suggestions, personal experience, and questions. Both curations can be used as resource tools in the participant’s upcoming school year.
Assessment is project-based so participants should be prepared to be fully-involved and eager risk-takers.
Click for take-aways from the last sessions of these classes.
I’d love for you to join me. Questions? Email me at AskATechTeacher@gmail.com.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
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