Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 176
January 9, 2013
2012 in review
WP did a great job summarizing my stats for this year. Allow me to share them with you:
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!
Click here to see the complete report.
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: blogs, research, writers Tagged: 2012, annual report, blogging, wordpress
January 8, 2013
Wanted: New Writing Gig
Let me explain. I wouldn’t want a NEW gig if my OLD gig hadn’t melted away like the Republican hopes in the last election. I loved writing for Write Anything. The eclecticism of the group, the mind-stretching themes, the support from everyone for whatever I turned out.
I want that again. Since Write Anything is retiring, I’d like to find it somewhere else.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking to write just any column. I contribute to many groups–TeachHUB, Innovate My School, Amazon as a Vine Voice, Technology In Education. I write books and ebooks and booklets. In fact, I have more writing than I can keep up with while keeping my day job (more on that later). What I do want is to be part of a writer community that blogs for the benefit of authors. Exactly what Write Anything does–did. Used to do. I want that motivation, connection to the world of novels, inspiration to think outside the box.
If you know of such a group, email me at askatechteacher@gmail.com.
Now it’s time to go. I’d say, I’ll be back, but that’s been used before, so I’ll just walk off into the digital sunset. As they said in Seattle so many years ago, last one to leave, please turn the lights out.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com , Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office .
Filed under: blogs, writers, writing Tagged: blogging, writers gig, writers life, writing
January 7, 2013
Tech Tips for Writers #91: Internet Problems? Switch Browsers
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly 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.
Q: I’m trying to use a website and it keeps telling me Flash isn’t installed. I know it is. I even re-installed it and it wouldn’t work. What do I do?
A: Change browsers. I have this problem more often now than I used to. I have no idea why. It seems when browsers are upgraded, they should be sure they work with everything. But the reality is: They are all quirky. I’ve tried IE, Firefox, Chrome and now keep them all available on my computer for when I need to switch. When an internet page doesn’t load/run correctly, the first thing I do is switch browsers. That more often than not fixes it.
Jacqui Murray is the author of Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB and Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers, writing Tagged: tech tips, tips, writers
January 6, 2013
Writer’s Tip #33: Convey Descriptions in Action
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.
Today’s tip: Whenever possible, put descriptions in action rather than narrative.
Action is exciting, pulls the reader in. Narrative is passive, safe, allows the reader to put the book down and take a break.
For example:
Not The cabin had a two car garage.
Instead, We pulled into the open space in the garage, beside a dented Jeep Cherokee
Not: She wore a flowered dress and matching yellow shoes
Instead: She looked cold in the flowered dress and the drizzle had ruined what might have been matching yellow shoes.
The latter is more interesting and conveys more information about what’s happening.
–Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: setting, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: action, plotting, writing
December 20, 2012
Happy Holidays!
I’ll be taking a week (or so) off–until after the New Year–to play with my son (visiting from Kuwait), rework my website, and work on writing projects with a deadline. I may drop in on you-all as you enjoy your holidays, but mostly I’ll be regenerating.
I wish you a wonderful season, safe and filled with family.
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: christmas
December 18, 2012
Check out my Article Over at Write Anything
I have an interesting article over on Write Anything. If you can’t make it–no worries. I’ll post it here soon.
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: business, writers Tagged: agents, guest post, writers
December 17, 2012
20 Techie Problems You Can Fix
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly 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.
There are about twenty problems that cause eighty percent of the tech stoppages. I’m going to tell you what those are and how to solve them. Trust me. They’re easier than you think to solve. I routinely teach them to third, fourth and fifth graders, and then they teach their parents.
I’ll tell you the problem first, then why it generally occurs and the most common solution to fix it. Here goes:
Deleted a file
Why? By accident or changed my mind
What to do: Open Recycle Bin; right-click—restore
Can’t exit a program
Why: Can’t find the X or Quit tool. This happens with young children’s programs and those pesky internet ads that marketers don’t want you to be able to exit
What to do: Alt F4 works 95% of the time. Try that.
Can’t find Word
Why: Shortcut moved, was deleted by accident or became inactive
What to do: Right-click on desktop—select ‘New’—“Word Document”
Keyboard doesn’t work
Why: Lost the connection
What to do: First check to be sure it actually isn’t working by pushing the ‘Num Lock’ on the right side. Does the ‘Num Lock’ light go on/off? If it does, the problem is something other than the keyboard. If it does, try this: Re-plug cord into back of tower or reboot
Mouse doesn’t work
Why: Lost the connection
What to do: Move it around to see if the cursor moves. If it doesn’t, re-plug cord into back or reboot
Start button is gone
Why: Task bar disappeared
What to do: Push Windows button in the lower right corner of the keyboard
No sound
Why: Mute is on; Volume is down; headphones are unplugged
What to do: Unmute the sound or turn it up from the lower right corner of the screen; plug headphones in; reboot
Do you notice how often I say reboot? Sometimes, the computer simply gets confused and drops actions out of the queue which means they stop working. All you have to do is restart the system to get things back to normal.
Can’t find a file
Why: Saved wrong, moved
What to do: Push Start button—Start search; when you find it, take note of where it is. Better yet, resave in a location you will remember
Menu command grayed out
Why: You’re in another command
What to do: Push escape 3 times. This gets you out of whatever you were working on and makes the command you’d like to use available
What’s today’s date?
Why: You forgot!
What to do: Hover over the clock in the lower right corner; if you’re in Word, start to type the date and it will prompt you with the current date. Another way to enter the date if you’re in word is with the shortkey Shift Alt D
Taskbar gone
Why: Student interference
What to do: Push the Windows button on the keyboard (between Ctrl and Alt on the left side). If it’s been hidden, drag the top border up to expose it
Taskbar was moved
Why: Student interference
What to do: Click on an open part of the taskbar and drag it to the bottom of screen (or wherever you prefer it to be)
Desktop icons messed up
Why: Student interference; you added more icons and now everything’s confused
What to do: Right click on screen—select ‘Sort by’ and select the method you’d like the icons arranged (name, type, etc.)
Computer frozen
Why: Mouse frozen; keyboard frozen, dialogue box open
What to do: Check solutions in this list. If nothing works, reboot
Program frozen
Why: Dialog box open; not selected on taskbar
What to do: Look around the screen until you find a dialogue box open. It’s probably asking for input. Once you supply the answer, it will close and your program will work again. Clear the dialog box. Or, the program may be blinking on the taskbar because it accidentally fell asleep down there. Click the program on taskbar to reactivate
I erased my document/text
Why: Ooops
What to do: Ctrl Z
Screen says “Ctrl-Alt-Del”
Why: You rebooted
What to do: Hold down Ct Alt—then push Delete. This will either bring you to the log-in screen or to the desktop
Program closed down
Why: Ooops
What to do: Is it open on the taskbar? If so—click on it; if not, reopen program—see if the right sidebar shows that it saved a back-up and select that to open
Tool bar missing at top of www
Why: Pushing F11 key
What to do: Push F11 key
Toolbar missing in MS Office (2003)
Why: Closed by accident
What to do: Right click in toolbar area; select missing toolbar
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers, writing Tagged: tech tips, tips, writers
December 16, 2012
Writer’s Tip #32: Think of a Walk-on Character as a Hole in the Wall
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.
Today’s tip: the Walk-on character.
You know, the one who enters the story as a cameo–in the background like furniture. You notice him/her as part of a particular scene but with no particular purpose. I’m talking about the waiter, the doorman, the bank teller–the supporting actors who move your main characters forward.
Don’t describe them unless it adds to the setting or the plot. Here’s what I mean. You may describe the tight low-cut t-shirt of the Hooter’s waitress, but no need to discuss her sparkling blue eyes or her single-mom status unless she’ll be part of the plot. Don’t confuse your readers. Don’t get them vested in a character or trying to remember details that won’t add to the storytelling experience.
–Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: characters, writers tips Tagged: characters, walk-on characters, writer, writers resources, writers tips
December 13, 2012
Book Review: The Intercept
The Intercept
by Dick Wolf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dick Wolf, legendary TV producer of crime dramas like Miami Vice and the Law and Order franchise, makes his literary debut with The Intercept (William Morrow 2012). It is a high-concept thriller that will keep your brain churning, your mind guessing, and your fingers turning pages. Jeremy Fisk (an officer in NYPD’s intelligence-gathering arm) and his partner Krina Gersten help to debrief a would-be hijacker’s foiled attempt to crash a plane into New York’s Freedom Tower (now known as One World Trade Center). But where the FBI and other involved agencies are satisfied that the plot is ended, Fisk and Gersten believe the hijacking was merely a cog in a much larger engine, one that will reveal itself on July 4th, just days away.
I was of two minds before I read this book. On one hand, Wolf’s iconic Law And Order took an extreme leftward tilt years ago which drove me away (one my liberal friends probably see as realistic rather than extreme. I’m fine with that.). On the other mind, Jeremy Fisk–the protagonist of this story, is advertised as ‘a rule breaker with a sharp mind and flawless instincts’. What could be more appealing in a police drama character? Having read the story, I’ll read more. The plot is tightly woven, demands attention from the reader, and takes enough twists and turns I never think I’ve figured out what’s going to happen.
One writing strategy Wolf will probably change in future books: While there are many parts of screenwriting (such as for L&O) and novel writing that are the same, characterization is handled differently. In novels, we want to get to know the people who are making the action happen, get in their heads and see the world through their eyes, find out what motivates them so we can feel comfortable in the actions they take. Because a TV series is many novelettes played out over multiple months, character information can dribbled out little by little, and the viewer gets to know the main characters via many plot climaxes and lots of action. Wolf employed a TV series approach to characterization where he should have showed us the action through the characters’ eyes. At some points, I felt the story was being told in third person omniscient (a godlike-storytelling approach where we see the story through everyone’s eyes rather than just a few people’s). This is a valid method, but not one that gets the reader vested in either character or plot.
Spoiler: Mr. Wolf did something that crime/thriller writers know is dangerous: He killed off one of the two main characters. I as reader had invested a lot of time getting to know this character, saw her/him as critical to the plot and an asset to the storyline. Her/his death cut a hole in the story’s fabric and in my emotional attachment to the novel.
With a few more books under his writer’s pen, dick Wolf will mature into an outstanding author . I hope this is a series so I can see where this fascinating main character ends up, after the tragic loss of a partner.
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 webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com , Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. In her free time, she is editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews Tagged: book review, dick wolf, law and order
December 11, 2012
I’ve Been Tagged–Er, Honored
The Next Big Thing is the latest blog hop/interview award making the rounds across the world. I was tagged by Anna over at Anna’s Obsession. She has a fascinating life up in Alaska and is willing to answer reader questions about what it means to work and play in our coldest state.
My obligation is to:
re-tag the person who tagged me (done)
answer the questions asked (see below)
tag four other fantastic authors (that was easy)
Here are the questions. Skip the ones that don’t interest you:
What is the working title of your book?
24 Days. That’s the third working title and probably not the last once the publisher gets involved
Where did the idea come from for the book?
My daughter served on the USS Bunker Hill and I gained a true appreciation for the power and support provided by America’s cruisers.
What genre does your book fall under?
Thriller, almost military thriller, maybe even techno-thriller. I’ll let someone else pick the exact category
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Someone unknown. Let them make their big breakthrough with my first novel-to-movie
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Can a Former SEAL, a Brilliant Scientist, a Love-besotted Nerd and a Quirky AI Stop Terrorists in Twenty-four days?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’m still up in the air over that. I have a lot of self-published books which do fine so don’t quite understand the need for an agent. On the other hand, am I really a writer if I don’t have an agent and/or publisher?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
A couple of years, mostly due to research. That’s the fun part. Wordsmithing is as annoying as it is motivating.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Military thrillers because my main character is the cruiser, USS Bunker Hill, as much as any human
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
See above.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Besides a cruiser at war, I solve my mysteries with science and brains. Brawn–yes, but the true creativity comes from the cerebral efforts.
Here’s my list of wonderful bloggers who keep me going every day, inspire me, and force me to think about my craft. Kuddos to all of you!
Diana Gray, author–Diana runs a lovely blog with her take on all sorts of life events, including her efforts to write. One of her recent posts was how she likes to work on two WIP at a time and included a picture of a quirky genius who could write with both hands, both feet and his mouth at once. That alone is worth dropping by her blog.
Laura Stanfill–Laura describes herself as “coffee-drinking novelist, reader and knitter, and I’m the founder of Forest Avenue Press”. She lives in Oregon, which makes me want to move there so I can join her writer’s group (true confession: I can’t wait to get out of California).
John Williamson–one of the most prolific writers I know–and he’s a photographer. The link takes you to his Amazon Vine reviews, where he is ranked 34 out of thousands and thousands of reviewers. His reviews are always thoughtful, detailed, and helpful. I’ve never met him, but feel like we’re friends.
Mirth and Motivation–if you are EVER down, drop by Elizabeth’s blog and she’ll cheer you up with both words and images. I don’t know how one person can be so positive, but I’d love to live next door to her. For now, I’ll have to settle for a ‘virtual’ next door.
There they are. I like this award too because the bloggers can opt in or not. No stress. when was the last time you faced life straight on and could say, ‘No stress’?
BTW, my tag came with no award logo so I did a search and came up with a slew of images. In this world of Pinterest, we must have an image on a post or we are invisible, so I picked one I liked. Anyone know what the Real Logo is?
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Filed under: awards, blogs, writing Tagged: award, blog award, blog hop, next big thing
