Amazon has pulled MacMillan's books from its Kindle listings over a price dispute. Get this: the publisher wants to RAISE the price of ebooks to $15 and Amazon wants to keep them at $9.99.
Well, duh. Why does a publisher think anybody would spend $15 for an ebook? If I can't get it cheap at Amazon, I'll toddle over to one of the gazillion other sites and download it for cheaper then transfer it to my Kindle (really, quite easily done).
I don't get this -- what is the publisher trying to prove. Are they so out of touch with the reading community?
::shaking head::
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Updates
My aunt passed away just a few hours before I wrote that last blog post. There's no real grief at such a passing but I do still feel a void to know she's not there any more. She's always been there. But she would be the first one to say 'get over it', so I will save my memories for another day.
Other news: I taught my first writing class last night & I think it went very well. We have only 4 students, but that's nice because it adds a feeling of familiarity to the task. I spoke for an hour then my co-teacher took over & led the class in a little writing exercise. We'll fine tune as we go, but overall, I think we're going to be okay. I'll report more next week as we continue...
Other news: I taught my first writing class last night & I think it went very well. We have only 4 students, but that's nice because it adds a feeling of familiarity to the task. I spoke for an hour then my co-teacher took over & led the class in a little writing exercise. We'll fine tune as we go, but overall, I think we're going to be okay. I'll report more next week as we continue...
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The passing of an age
My 100 year old aunt is very ill & is dying.
I know -- 100 years old. It's to be expected. Of course it is, but you know how it goes -- we reflect back, we think about their lives, we try to put grief in perspective. A century of living is a lot of thinking back. I remember...
Summers at the house on Lovejoy and that nifty staircase they had that went from the living room into the kitchen and also up the stairs to the bedrooms. Her "E.T.C." room, an office off the living room. The death that took place next door when her best friend was murdered by two teenagers, seemingly at random.
It was that death that propelled my aunt into the last phase of her life, into a senior living complex where she used to 'read to the old people' (she was in her 80s at the time) and she had a rich, full social life.
For some reason, when I remember my aunt I remember our basement on 6th Street. I remember sitting at the piano there (we're talking a LONG time ago, now) and reading a letter my aunt wrote me. You see, she and I were 'pencil pals' (not pen pals, I couldn't write with pen yet, I wasn't adept enough). We exchanged letters on a regular basis and for some reason I remember sitting at the piano and reading one of her carefully written letters. They were always long, and chatty and full of detail.
I learned, from her, to take my time when composing. It may take several drafts but you should always take the time to get it right for your audience, whether that audience is a reader of my novels or a correspondent. I labored over my letters, trying to find things to say that she would think interesting. When you're in 3rd or 4th grade, that can be a bit tough, but whenever I saw her in person (they only lived 45 miles away but that was far enough to be only an occasional visit) she would mention something I had said. She read what I wrote and thought it was interesting!
Thanks you, Aunt Agnes.
I know -- 100 years old. It's to be expected. Of course it is, but you know how it goes -- we reflect back, we think about their lives, we try to put grief in perspective. A century of living is a lot of thinking back. I remember...
Summers at the house on Lovejoy and that nifty staircase they had that went from the living room into the kitchen and also up the stairs to the bedrooms. Her "E.T.C." room, an office off the living room. The death that took place next door when her best friend was murdered by two teenagers, seemingly at random.
It was that death that propelled my aunt into the last phase of her life, into a senior living complex where she used to 'read to the old people' (she was in her 80s at the time) and she had a rich, full social life.
For some reason, when I remember my aunt I remember our basement on 6th Street. I remember sitting at the piano there (we're talking a LONG time ago, now) and reading a letter my aunt wrote me. You see, she and I were 'pencil pals' (not pen pals, I couldn't write with pen yet, I wasn't adept enough). We exchanged letters on a regular basis and for some reason I remember sitting at the piano and reading one of her carefully written letters. They were always long, and chatty and full of detail.
I learned, from her, to take my time when composing. It may take several drafts but you should always take the time to get it right for your audience, whether that audience is a reader of my novels or a correspondent. I labored over my letters, trying to find things to say that she would think interesting. When you're in 3rd or 4th grade, that can be a bit tough, but whenever I saw her in person (they only lived 45 miles away but that was far enough to be only an occasional visit) she would mention something I had said. She read what I wrote and thought it was interesting!
Thanks you, Aunt Agnes.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
An interesting side effect of weeding out
You know how I said I weeded out all the dreck from my mailbox -- unsubscribed from online catalogs, etc., leaving only what I *should* read?
I'm finding I'm not sure I want to read that stuff after all! I'm still subscribed to a bunch of groups and I'm wondering if I need another weed-down in February. I get 'digests' of messages from those groups (a compilation of recent messages) and it seems like they're all full of the same-old, same-old: "Blog posting", "Promo", and "Book Trailer" come to mind.
Unless the blog post is something interesting about the industry, I probably won't read it. Unless the Promo has a subject line that really catches my eye, I don't look at it. And I don't even glance at book trailers.
This leads me to re-consider my own subject lines, the groups where I post, and why I post there.
This 'start of the year' reflection stuff is fascinating!
I'm finding I'm not sure I want to read that stuff after all! I'm still subscribed to a bunch of groups and I'm wondering if I need another weed-down in February. I get 'digests' of messages from those groups (a compilation of recent messages) and it seems like they're all full of the same-old, same-old: "Blog posting", "Promo", and "Book Trailer" come to mind.
Unless the blog post is something interesting about the industry, I probably won't read it. Unless the Promo has a subject line that really catches my eye, I don't look at it. And I don't even glance at book trailers.
This leads me to re-consider my own subject lines, the groups where I post, and why I post there.
This 'start of the year' reflection stuff is fascinating!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
New year, new habits
I'm posting today from not-my-usual spot. I've been traveling a bit lately & I'm at my 'other work spot', my Mom's house.
I've been coming here often in the last 3 months and I've developed new work habits, which really surprised me. It used to be that coming here was just social with an occasional opportunity to do some writing. But I'm staying here for 4 or 5 days at a time now (we got a USB broadband thingie so I can now access the Internet, etc., remotely), and I've developed new work habits based on my schedule there.
I have to admit, this is intriguing to me. I am really a creature of habit when it comes to writing and this does throw me off my pattern, but I'm finding that's a good thing. A change of scene has sort of energized my writing and doesn't let me get stuck in ruts. I need to remember this in the future -- when I'm stuck, shake it up and change the routine.
I wonder if this works for all things in life, too? Hmm.
I've been coming here often in the last 3 months and I've developed new work habits, which really surprised me. It used to be that coming here was just social with an occasional opportunity to do some writing. But I'm staying here for 4 or 5 days at a time now (we got a USB broadband thingie so I can now access the Internet, etc., remotely), and I've developed new work habits based on my schedule there.
I have to admit, this is intriguing to me. I am really a creature of habit when it comes to writing and this does throw me off my pattern, but I'm finding that's a good thing. A change of scene has sort of energized my writing and doesn't let me get stuck in ruts. I need to remember this in the future -- when I'm stuck, shake it up and change the routine.
I wonder if this works for all things in life, too? Hmm.
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