tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88726029790034007142024-03-13T17:55:07.163-07:00AprilWhiteBooksFor readers who like history and a little magic with their time travel adventures.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-59228824566762074712023-03-18T12:32:00.001-07:002023-03-18T12:33:34.049-07:00I Read Banned Books<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixu4jet_MUdSK8eqmZFm5YS0cCtj5XY53haG8KC1MpfHsZO110Bm74tQLXoDGs-Bi9D8IFZDQHQ1CEppwE953BNCDhbHiLQr7mF9yKIEs2aF1L3gZvL36WI9Y2y-i3x4Q-SW_CYuhquNnN7teWx9qRUELdFb_B50ez4y8BHUbzlnPgUjZTZN_jan4fYw/s1703/Ireadbannedbooks.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1703" data-original-width="1703" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixu4jet_MUdSK8eqmZFm5YS0cCtj5XY53haG8KC1MpfHsZO110Bm74tQLXoDGs-Bi9D8IFZDQHQ1CEppwE953BNCDhbHiLQr7mF9yKIEs2aF1L3gZvL36WI9Y2y-i3x4Q-SW_CYuhquNnN7teWx9qRUELdFb_B50ez4y8BHUbzlnPgUjZTZN_jan4fYw/s320/Ireadbannedbooks.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I sat through a <i>loooong</i> school board meeting
last week because a few angry parents had called for a book to be banned. The
book in question was written by a transgender author, and the protagonist was an
eleven-year-old trans character. I mention this only because 41% of the more than 1600 books that were banned in the U.S. last year involved LGBTQ+ authors,
protagonists, or main characters, and because the PVPUSD board room was <i>packed</i> with LGBTQ+ community and allies.
The call to ban the book was not an agenda item, and the district had publicly
said they were not considering banning that or any book, so the 50+ speakers
and more than a hundred other allies were there to send a clear message to the
district. We value diversity in our books, we need representation of the LGBTQ+
community not only for the people who identify as such but for everyone, and
perhaps most importantly, the message was clearly delivered that a few loud,
angry people do not have the right to dictate what anyone else can or can’t
read.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Period.</span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.3in;">The middle-grade award-winning book was about gender, but it
could have been a book by an author of color (40% of all banned books last year
were by or about people of color), or one that no longer fits the language and
sensitivity of the times (Dr. Seuss and Huckleberry Finn, for example). The fact that a teacher
read it out loud to her class doesn’t even matter because it’s on the
California Department of Education’s recommended-reading list. What’s at stake
looks complicated when people think about “parental rights” and “what’s
appropriate for children,” but it’s actually incredibly simple. The First
Amendment has granted the rights of freedom of expression to all people in the
United States, the Fourteenth Amendment extended that right to guarantee that
State and Local government cannot infringe on it, a </span><span style="text-indent: 0.3in;">1969
case heard by the Supreme Court determined that </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">“neither teachers nor students shed their constitutional
rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” and in
1982, they extended those protections to students again by ruling against the
removal of books by school boards.</span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.1pt; text-indent: 0.3in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of that
is to say that my right, and my children’s right to read whatever we want to
read is guaranteed by law.</span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.1pt; text-indent: 0.3in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“But what
about the children?” they say.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
students who spoke publicly at the PVPUSD board meeting talked overwhelmingly about finding empathy and identity in books that focused
on inclusion and diversity. They showed the vandalized signs for the weekly
Queer Social Club meetings, and spoke about what it meant to feel safe and part
of a community. They talked about the amazing teachers they’d had, the things
that made them feel understood, and the mental health dangers of feeling alone
and unsupported. Books can connect us, they said. They can show us what it
feels like to be Black or Trans or gay when you’re not, and they can make us
feel seen and heard when the world feels overwhelmingly different than you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“But my
rights as a parent…” they say.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ChatGPT's answer to that was excellent. “While there may be some books that are controversial or
objectionable, schools can address this issue by providing guidance on how to
approach challenging material and fostering discussions around difficult topics.
Removing books altogether would deprive students of the opportunity to engage
with diverse perspectives and develop their own opinions and beliefs.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Sexual
content isn’t appropriate for children,” they argue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First
of all, I'm going to say this out loud because the book in question in my district was
about a trans kid wrestling with their gender identity. <i>Gender isn’t sex</i>. And I'll say it again for the people in the back. GENDER AND SEX ARE NOT THE SAME THING. Collapsing them makes people sound ignorant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Secondly,
different people have different ideas about what is considered explicit, and
what is “appropriate” for kids. Ultimately, it’s up to a library or a school
district to determine which books to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">include</i>
in their collections and curriculum—with inclusion being the operative term.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Inclusion
and representation are now the law in California Education Code. The focus on mental
and emotional wellness since the pandemic continues to stress that feeling part
of a community is vital to young people, and communities come in all colors,
shapes, sizes, and identities. The Fair Act mandates that </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">governing
boards in school districts include curriculums and materials that accurately
portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society, and a new bill is now
in committee that prohibits school boards from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">banning</i> (emphasis mine) any curriculum or learning materials without State approval
(AB 1078).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Banning books doesn’t “protect
the children,” it harms them. It limits their abilities to become critical
thinkers, to become empathetic, informed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">educated</i>
human beings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our ability to consider emotions and
circumstances, to draw connections while reciting facts and analyzing data is
what makes us critical thinkers. Allowing students to read and learn about the
world, their histories, each other, and themselves with guidance from trained
educators, alongside parents who read and discuss the books with their children—that
is the basis for learning to be a critical thinker, and arguably, what produces
people who understand all the ways in which our differences connect us to our communities and to the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I made friends at that board meeting
last week, and I know a little more about some of the people I see every day
because they were there. I sat in a room full of people who believe in
inclusion, who believe that representation is important, and that freedom means
being able to read what you want, love who you want, and be who you are. Book banning is not the
freedom to choose what your child reads. It’s taking freedom away from everyone
else because you’ve decided you know better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; line-height: 150%;"><span>I’ve read thousands of books in my life,
and I know this: every person is the hero of their own story, and the more books I
read, the more ways I find to connect with those heroes, fictional and real.
And like the books I read, my story is so much richer, better, and more
interesting because it’s full of diverse characters, inclusive of experiences I’ve
never had, and representative of the world in which we all live. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">P.S. I made the graphic because I'm fired up about this. I turned it into <a href="https://www.bonfire.com/i-read-banned-books-4/" target="_blank">a t-shirt</a>, and if you see me at a book event you can pick up a sticker, but feel free to use it however you like.</span></span></p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-40229992740738278132022-09-09T14:15:00.005-07:002022-09-09T14:15:45.332-07:00A Human Queen - Conflicted Feelings About Elizabeth II<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9_WSTN067deDuAzDQ6VW7Gy1MyCNN4ijKg-8rm7hTpRUIuZd_Q9yeJ3zH2w7USrYfimheWgO0o-nq-scLKaHrSJ5oikZJv_4ZDjryZEL1L9pkYq_Gbnnd6B0XIxJFNOcb4MS2w0SdsHPE2aqLH51XJphnqUnmyjeqSkzBkC27wl9Tbw15LtC4382aw/s2268/D04A29D3-EA55-4C33-A81A-8688F270E57F.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9_WSTN067deDuAzDQ6VW7Gy1MyCNN4ijKg-8rm7hTpRUIuZd_Q9yeJ3zH2w7USrYfimheWgO0o-nq-scLKaHrSJ5oikZJv_4ZDjryZEL1L9pkYq_Gbnnd6B0XIxJFNOcb4MS2w0SdsHPE2aqLH51XJphnqUnmyjeqSkzBkC27wl9Tbw15LtC4382aw/s320/D04A29D3-EA55-4C33-A81A-8688F270E57F.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With the September 8th, 2022 death of Queen Elizabeth II, newsfeeds around the world were full of iconic images of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Gorgeous glamour shots of the young queen, stately photos of the older woman, and even kindly grandmother pictures that wouldn't look out of place on someone's mantle. Another side of my social media feed was filled with angry posts about the monarchy's history of racist empire-building, of problematic choices by Elizabeth II personally, and the role of the crown in questionable policies. And a third subset of social media posters, especially among Americans, seem to consider the news of the queen's death unremarkable or unrelatable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I posted this photo that I took in May during a trip to York, UK, because somehow, this representation speaks to my own conflicted feelings about her iconic status.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unlike rock stars, media personalities, and politicians, Elizabeth Windsor didn't choose her fame, she was born to her position. I suppose she could have abdicated her reign, like her uncle Edward did, but she'd been raised under the specter of that "disgraceful" chapter in the English monarchy, and even if she'd been inclined to live a private life, she'd been conditioned from childhood to believe that her role was one of service - to the job, to the people, to the country, and to the empire.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That empire, with its long history of colonization, subjugation, and racism that still lingers today, was another thing Elizabeth was born to. From Queen Elizabeth I and the age of exploration, through the loss of the 13 American colonies, to the subjugation of the Indian subcontinent, the British Empire has stood in the center of the world. But by the 20th century, the power of the empire had begun to fade, and with Britain's reliance, in both WWI and WWII, on its colonies help defeat the Axis powers, the huge tolls of war finally led to a period of decolonization which coincided directly with Elizabeth II's ascension as queen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On her 21st birthday, in a broadcast from Cape Town, Elizabeth pledged to devote her life, whether it be short or long, to the service of her people. Her son, now King Charles III, said "That was more than a promise: it was a profound personal commitment that defined her whole life. She made sacrifices for duty." During her coronation speech in 1953, Elizabeth II said, "I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service...Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust." Duty and service were the core principles of Elizabeth's reign, and even the Netflix series, <i>The Crown</i>, with it's warts-and-all portrayal of the British royals, put Elizabeth's service to her people, country, and commonwealth at the center of her character, and at the heart of many of her conflicts.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She was a constitutional monarch, not a political leader with any real powers, and she was more popular than any of her prime ministers. And yet behind the ancestral inheritance - the accident of birth that made her a queen - she was a human woman whose every misstep was on display for the world to see and judge. She made mistakes - her handling of Diana's death was a big one - and with her popularity could arguably have done so much more to create better lives for her subjects. Online criticism after her death seemed to focus on her continued role as head of the Commonwealth as an extension of colonialism and its policies, but Tom McTague, of the Atlantic based in London wrote "The irony is that in doing her duty to this imperial shadow in the same way she did her duty to Britain, she was better able to symbolize a modern, multicultural Britain and the world of the 21st Century than logic might suggest was possible for an aristocratic European princess."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My own fascination with the history of Britain's monarchy began when I was young, the first time I visited the Tower of London, saw the crown jewels and the armor of kings, heard the stories of beheadings, and brought home a stamp collection with portraits of every king and queen of England. It was the queens who fascinated me the most - the women who ruled in their own right, not as a wife or a mother. There were very few queens in that stamp collection and the three primary ones, Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II were responsible for the most remarkable reigns in British history. I have only ever known England to have a queen, and now it's unlikely I'll ever see another queen on its throne.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I think that's at the heart of my feelings about Queen Elizabeth - she was a woman with a big job. Her entire existence was about being in service. She was human, she made mistakes, she could have done more/better/other with the perceived power and outrageous wealth she inherited through an accident of birth. She was the product of her upbringing, the expectations of her position, her age, gender, and the pressures placed on her by 900 years of tradition, so all the would-haves and should-haves about her reign are pointless to consider. She did what she did because she was the person she was, good or bad, right or wrong, and like all of us, she did the best she could with the tools she had. And perhaps the most striking part of the poster that hung in a gallery window in York just weeks before her Platinum Jubilee, was not the iconic lightning bolt of the rock star queen, but the quiet acceptance of a woman who did a job because it was there to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-14329146343922607222021-08-05T22:32:00.004-07:002021-08-09T16:14:29.502-07:00An Award for Romance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CQTaa_cVm9JJs5Bh-JuHCUahEpN52r2k8SWaxyxevwvdlewZNm7wQRyGbJ4wOyDyjWcIXte7kBKhVaq9CEmxNzt1imxA6IRnBt2GLmbWehS4lzYn2cTuCQGgvNDx_Sw1C69hnkQX7NN8/s781/Picture1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="780" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CQTaa_cVm9JJs5Bh-JuHCUahEpN52r2k8SWaxyxevwvdlewZNm7wQRyGbJ4wOyDyjWcIXte7kBKhVaq9CEmxNzt1imxA6IRnBt2GLmbWehS4lzYn2cTuCQGgvNDx_Sw1C69hnkQX7NN8/w164-h164/Picture1.png" width="164" /></a></div><br /><p>I came from the film industry, so I was raised on a steady
diet of the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards. Those awards are
supposed to represent the best of the best – the top performances, the best
writing and directing, and all the other wonderful moving parts that go into
making an excellent movie. Those awards come with seals of approval, marks of
prestige, a title that says you did a thing that people found to be great,
perhaps even the greatest of that year. All of these awards are subjective, of
course, and all of them have had problems, have been called out for inequity, a
lack of diversity or inclusion, even inaccessibility. The good ones, the
relevant ones with reputations for excellence keep moving forward, making
strides to be different, to grow and change as people’s minds open to all the
myriad ways hurt, harm, and exclusion have been perpetuated by the systems in
place, and as such, they remain a hallmark of something special.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The book world has its own set of prestige awards. The National
Book Award, the Pulitzer, the Booker, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Faulkner
– each with its own focus, its own rules, gatekeepers, judging criteria – and each
producing a badge with a name that confers a sense of quality or excellence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Interesting side note: the Women’s Prize for Fiction was
developed from a private grant after the 1991 Booker prize. More than 60% of novels published that year were written by women, but none of
the six shortlisted finalists was written by someone identifying as female. <a href="https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/events">https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/events</a>.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Genre fiction tends to get shut out of the big literary
awards, so they have developed their own prestigious awards – the Hugo and
Nebula Awards for sci-fi and fantasy, the Edgars for mystery, the CWA Daggers
for crime fiction, and, until a few years ago, the RITA and Golden Heart awards
for romance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The romance book industry accounts for approximately
one-third of all book sales and is a billion dollar industry, which grew 17%
during the pandemic. It is also the genre which has seen the most
independently-published success - over 50% of romance titles are self-published - with female-identifying authors dominating the
playing field.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Consider that – independent authors, mostly female. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Independently published books account for 30-34% <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of all ebook sales</i> across every genre. It
means that independent and hybrid authors have a significant voice in the book world,
and yet almost none of the major literary awards will accept a self-published
title or an author submission for consideration. Those are a lot of unheard
voices in the consideration of “the best” books of that year. Not so
interesting side note: the Women’s Prize for Fiction doesn’t embrace the
inclusion of female independent authors. All submissions for awards must be
made by publishers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In romance, independent authors are one of the primary
reasons the genre has seen the growth of diversity in its characters. The
publishing gatekeepers and whatever quotas they may have just don’t apply to
the independent community, which means my disabled characters, or your Black
characters, or her Southeast Asian characters don’t remove opportunity for
Black, disabled, or Southeast Asian authors, because I am my own publisher, and
a traditional publisher isn’t even going to see me or my book when they’re
looking at quotas.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of that is to say that one of the primary ways to access
a truly diverse spectrum of literature is to embrace the independent community,
so that it isn't traditional publishing vs. independent, but independent and
traditional together, hand-in-hand, equal opportunity for all.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obviously, this presents a possible quality problem, which
traditional awards have tried to mitigate by only allowing traditional
publishers to submit their authors’ books. The VIVIAN award, newly revamped by the Romance Writers of America to take the place of the RITA, did away with those
barriers to consideration, as anyone – member, non-member, trad pub or indie –
could submit their book, and the task force in charge of the VIVIAN Award came
up with some of the most equitable and inclusive judging criteria of any award
I’ve seen in the industry. Tragically – and yes, I do feel like it’s tragic
because so much work went into creating something different – it seems that the
problems were so deeply entrenched in the organization that even the most
equitable framework couldn’t counter ignorance and baked-in bigotry.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t feel qualified to judge whether the RWA retains its
relevance and usefulness to the romance author community in the wake of the last few years of controversy surrounding it. I do fear that its
primary book award – the premiere literary award for romance – has lost its
prestige, and with it, its usefulness to authors seeking to set their books
apart from the crowd, to get noticed by the people who notice awards, to
validate and substantiate novels in a genre that still suffers from a
credibility problem because it’s written primarily for and by women.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hugh Howey, author and blogger about the state of the
publishing industry said, “The new power authors are predominately female, and
to cope with the reality of this transition, the media and legacy authors have
had to resort to lumping them into a single genre (erotica) in order to
stigmatize them. Despite the fact that these authors write romance, thrillers,
science fiction, literary fiction, non-fiction and other genres. Those who
write in one of the hundreds of varieties of romance are today castigated as “smut”
writers when this has never been true.” <a href="https://hughhowey.com/the-state-of-the-industry/">https://hughhowey.com/the-state-of-the-industry/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I did an informal poll among my readers about the role
awards may or may not play in their decision-making about buying or reading
books. The majority said that they notice the award badges on book covers, but
it doesn’t affect their decisions. However, several mentioned that if they were
looking at a fantasy or sci fi novel, seeing the badge for a Hugo or Nebula
award would absolutely influence them to look at the back cover copy. That's because the Nebulas have name recognition attached to them. Readers understand that this is <i>the</i> award in that genre, and you'll be guaranteed a level of quality. The film
industry has their Oscars, their Palme d’Or, and their Golden Globes, and as
such, film and TV producers looking for new material are primed to notice
prestige awards as well as sales figures. And when an awards event is promoted,
touted, and anticipated with excitement, as the Nebulas are for science fiction
and fantasy authors, it creates a buzz not just among authors, but readers and industry professionals too. And <i>that</i> is good for the entire business.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That being said, the nomination process for the Nebulas does
not take full advantage of the independent book community, and I believe they
are therefore missing tremendous opportunities for diversity and inclusion. The
Data Guy who worked with Hugh Howey for several years on his Independent Book
Industry Report, was a featured guest at the RWA conference in 2016, and author
Jami Gold posted about his presentation. “Unlike the earnings gap between
traditionally published white authors and authors of color, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">among self-published authors, the racial
earnings gap <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does not exist</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. (</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Emphasis and boldface type are from Jami Gold's article). </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gatekeepers are causing the racial
earnings gap, not the market. Traditional publishers who claim the target
market for diverse stories doesn’t exist are holding authors of color back.” – </i>Jami
Gold, RWA16 Industry Insights from Data Guy <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #494949; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><a href="https://jamigold.com/2016/07/rwa16-industry-insights-from-data-guy-and-more/">https://jamigold.com/2016/07/rwa16-industry-insights-from-data-guy-and-more/</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***Edited to add: I can find no more comprehensive data from the Data Guy, Paul Abbassi, regarding the existence or lack of a racial earnings gap in independent publishing, however anecdotal evidence of friends of mine who are independent authors and women of color suggest that there are many other factors that go into an earnings gap than pure royalties. Things like discriminatory advertising and categorization practices on Amazon, as well as the systemic issues that plague WOC with traditional publishers continue to affect the income of indie WOC authors. Statements like those in Jami Gold's article, when not qualified (like I did, for which I heartily apologize) are disheartening and make it hard to press for changes that lead to earnings equity. End edit***</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Indie romances often provide me with representation that is often slow to show up on the traditionally published market," book vlogger Mina Thomas of Minareads said in a 2019 article in Shondaland. <a href="https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34047527/indie-romance-is-big-business-why-arent-we-hearing-about-it/">https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34047527/indie-romance-is-big-business-why-arent-we-hearing-about-it/</a>
Shondaland – the company owned by Shonda
Rhimes, producer of <i>Bridgerton</i> based
on the Regency romance series of the same name by Julia Quinn – published an
article about the diversity and inclusion in indie books, which means Hollywood
isn’t blind to indies, and they recognize the value to the whole ecosystem when
diversity and representation are embraced.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I only know about the VIVIAN Award task force from things I’ve
read, but I’ve read the judging rubric they crafted, and it’s good. It’s clear
that in creating those rules, the task force was committed to embracing the
diversity that is one of the hallmarks of the romance genre. But there are so
many more steps to be taken than just writing the rules, as evidenced by this
year’s award for a Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements. The category rules state that the books must be "Works in which spiritual beliefs are an inherent part of the love story, character growth or relationship development, and could not be removed without damaging the storyline. These novels may be set in the context of any religious or spiritual belief system of any culture." <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/The_Vivian/Vivian_Contest_Rules.aspx#Descriptions">https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/The_Vivian/Vivian_Contest_Rules.aspx#Descriptions</a>
And yet the day after the VIVIAN Awards, when Twitter was buzzing angrily about
the winning novel’s depiction of the Massacre at Wounded Knee with its <i>good people on both sides</i> take, RWA sent
out a definition of the category as one in which characters can seek redemption
from ‘crimes against humanity,’ saying that the book had been read by 13 judges
who hadn’t flagged the content as problematic. As Sarah, from Smart Bitches,
Trashy Books wrote, “<span style="background: white;">No matter how much work and how many thousands of words go
into an award rubric, if the judging is done by people determined to hold onto
a racist narrative, racism will be the result.</span>” <a href="https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2021/08/worse-than-a-dumpster-fire/?fbclid=IwAR0vlQfaG7wSaOZbAb3-9MwGZ1Ewk3OIJpNqkgD_jvVrXXRF12ueACR-kUY">https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2021/08/worse-than-a-dumpster-fire/?fbclid=IwAR0vlQfaG7wSaOZbAb3-9MwGZ1Ewk3OIJpNqkgD_jvVrXXRF12ueACR-kUY</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">There are other romance book awards out there, and some indie book awards that feature a romance category, but we need our own prestige award - one that is built from the ground up on the premise of diversity, inclusion, and excellence - with judges pulled from across the spectrum of readers, bloggers, critics, authors, publishers, editors, and even the odd producer or two. And we need a gala event that is all about the red carpet, the award itself, recognizing the finalists and the romance world at large for producing a year full of great books, and to celebrate this women-empowered, women-led business in which diversity and inclusion are actively embraced, and where love is love is love.</p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-20842282062781709772021-01-21T13:12:00.002-08:002021-01-21T13:12:27.650-08:00It's the People Who Matter<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDZ046CP8b2g_MreH0Duv9rXGfLeuitIL6g-E55v6AttBiY-6TdRTDLbkR4L28lqL2OMtQlLuxaI2jV7ur_7b9dy3LqY09zAzhz00SR110ujxh9eDthk22jFJNt7zOB3lxIiIKWXrNngE/s1098/wedding+11.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDZ046CP8b2g_MreH0Duv9rXGfLeuitIL6g-E55v6AttBiY-6TdRTDLbkR4L28lqL2OMtQlLuxaI2jV7ur_7b9dy3LqY09zAzhz00SR110ujxh9eDthk22jFJNt7zOB3lxIiIKWXrNngE/s320/wedding+11.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Yesterday was our 20</span><sup style="text-align: left;">th</sup><span style="text-align: left;"> wedding anniversary. It
was also the day our country got a new president. We spent the morning watching
the inauguration, marveling at the power of Amanda Gorman’s words, and
President Biden’s ideas, and the hope and love and call for unity that wove its
way through the ceremony. It was beautiful to see the fist-bumps of Kamala
Harris and Barack Obama, to revel at the connection Madame Vice President had
with the former First Lady, to experience the love and respect of the Bidens,
and to watch so many people connecting over a shared stand for possibility.</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It was powerful, moving, uplifting, and made me cry.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Twenty years ago, words, ideas, hope, love, unity, and a
shared experience among people we cared about did the same. Anniversaries are
all about the couple who got married. They’re sort of a “yay, you made it”
acknowledgement, and every thumbs-up and heart emoji is validation that someone
cares that we continue to make it. But at a wedding, it’s never just about the
couple getting married – at least it didn’t feel that way to us. We chose to
get married in Puerto Vallarta, at the restaurant of a family friend, and for
various reason, mostly involving the lack of a wedding mark-up on costs, we
were able to invite anyone we’d ever cared about who may want to make the trek
to Mexico for a four-day weekend. Eighty people decided that sounded like fun,
and they were the most eclectic group of wedding guests we could have imagined.
We spent the long weekend more or less together, on the beach, at the
gatherings we’d planned, and finally, eating, drinking, dancing, and
celebrating our wedding. Most of my memories from that evening come from
photos, but the one that remains etched in my mind was after the party, when
all our friends had gone to bed. Ed and I stripped out of wedding finery and
spent hours lying naked on the bed just talking about the weekend. We recounted
conversations we’d had with other people, impressions of our friends’ enjoyment
and happiness, moments of joy and delight, things that made us laugh. The people
who shared the weekend with us made it memorable and extraordinary, and our
wedding became much greater than a set of promises made by two people. It was a
celebration of hope, of love, of possibility, and of the community who joined
us in that celebration.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I found unexpected parallels between the inauguration
yesterday, and the 20<sup>th</sup> wedding anniversary we celebrated at home
instead of back in Puerto Vallarta as we’d planned. Yes, President Biden and
Vice President Harris are making the promises, saying the words, and will be
doing the work, but the day was not just about them. The people behind them,
supporting them, speaking words of hope and possibility, hugging and
fist-bumping each other – those people, <i>we</i>,
the people – are celebrated just as thoroughly by that ceremony as the two
people being honored were. And as I look at my twenty years of marriage – of partnership
– yeah, we’ve done the work, and we continue to do the work, but it’s never
just been about us. Our children and our families rely on us, our friends support
us in a mutual system of respect, care, and laughter, and our community
envelopes us in safety and certainty. Our wedding was made special by the people
with whom we shared it, and the inauguration feels the same – it’s never just
been about the two people. We are a village, a tribe, a community, a country,
and it’s as important for us to have shared in the hope, love, and possibility of
that celebration as it was for us to have shared our wedding with our family,
friends, and community.<o:p></o:p></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-53834989409868609302021-01-08T10:03:00.000-08:002021-01-08T10:03:30.036-08:00Advice to my son<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5bc3hRO93hbesuUcAm69bMwRug3ajy0oBIftRjgmKhGbeEC5ELOHNS9huyD9zNYJfaOA5ToWqYPaR2fD9PXaMhVRBHMUotc3mm3OhRxPqJ4edfAkYpVmmhLnezLrSui3ZQzO0F7M8F3k/s2048/Connor5a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5bc3hRO93hbesuUcAm69bMwRug3ajy0oBIftRjgmKhGbeEC5ELOHNS9huyD9zNYJfaOA5ToWqYPaR2fD9PXaMhVRBHMUotc3mm3OhRxPqJ4edfAkYpVmmhLnezLrSui3ZQzO0F7M8F3k/s320/Connor5a.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I just received an interesting email from my son’s English
teacher. They’re reading Hamlet in class, and she wants to personalize the scene in
which Polonius gives advice to his son, Laertes before he leaves for France.
She’s asked us to write our High School Senior a letter full of the advice we’ve
spent the last seventeen years trying to impart. My writerly, parent brain
loves this idea so much I thought I’d share my letter here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Advice to my son before he leaves home:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Be kind. Your kindness to someone else will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i> make a difference.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Give yourself time to sleep. You need it more
than you think you do.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Walk or run when you can. Make time to hike in
nature. Movement will be a pressure valve release on stress.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Drink water.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Take a moment to photograph that sunset, or the
cool cloud pattern, or even the interesting cornice on a building. Look up, notice
things, find beauty around you, make a record of it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Spread your wet towels out to dry on a rack, or
even the back of a chair. If you hang them on a hook, they’ll mold, and nothing
gets that smell out. Ditto for your clothes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Wear a condom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Be truthful. There’s nothing a lie won’t make
worse, and nothing the truth won’t ultimately make better.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Nurture your friendships. Share yourself with
people, and be someone they trust. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Fall in love with your best friend, or be best
friends with the person you love. Tuck that advice away for the future and pull
it out whenever you need it. Whoever he/she/they are will be the luckiest
person in the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Choose people you can laugh with, and make sure
you like who you’re being when you’re with them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Send proof of life emojis to us. We miss you and
wonder about your life. Know that we’re <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i>
here for you.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Drink more water.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->A six-page paper takes two hours to write if you
build it from the quotes up. Use Goodreads for the quotes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Nothing really important is retained after
midnight the night before a test.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Trust your instincts. They’re good ones.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">17.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Be respectful. You never know when you’ll
encounter that person again, or under what circumstances.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">18.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->If there’s something you want, go for it. Throw
your hat over the wall, reach for it with both hands. You’re smart and capable –
you’ll figure out how to get it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">19.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Read things, listen to things, write things,
talk about things. Language and ideas connect us and make us interesting.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">20.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Ask questions. Ask for help. People feel valued
when they can contribute to someone else.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">21.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->You don’t have to know how to do a thing to say
yes to it. You’re quick and clever. You’ll pick it up. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">22.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->You can make oatmeal, soup, tea, and noodles
with an electric tea kettle. Carrots, beans, and pasta are cheap fuel, and
bananas are a better value than granola bars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">23.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Be generous. If not with money, than with your time,
knowledge, or even with smiles. Your help matters more than you know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">24.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Trust the universe. Have faith. Believe things
will work out. Being positive is a stronger force in life than seems possible.
*Refer to number 18.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">25.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Home is always a safe place for you to come,
rest, regroup, and decide what’s next in your life. You’ll always have a
landing pad with us, and we love, trust, and believe in you without
reservation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .8in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">26. You've got this.</p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-43531205616196814122020-12-26T09:58:00.002-08:002020-12-26T09:59:14.513-08:00Lip balm and skin cream recipe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBYb0DbmXkv_HW7shp3aZHkd84AHBHK_yiRXxAbITKTwFT6oXv5qTGDzqawepr1xgeQVjvIJT2gLSeN9v_dzPG-WfatHKJ7UeDpZDz3Sm22SVnLjtb8g3p1uvkySYJDMqgXnMwwXLQ_V10/s1024/425dac3f-2cf3-4497-8e3c-11fe0b9207d2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBYb0DbmXkv_HW7shp3aZHkd84AHBHK_yiRXxAbITKTwFT6oXv5qTGDzqawepr1xgeQVjvIJT2gLSeN9v_dzPG-WfatHKJ7UeDpZDz3Sm22SVnLjtb8g3p1uvkySYJDMqgXnMwwXLQ_V10/s320/425dac3f-2cf3-4497-8e3c-11fe0b9207d2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This post has nothing to do with books. It's a recipe for the lip balm and skin cream I make, which my husband calls kitchen witchery. It's what inspired my Christmas gift from him this year - a fabulous chemistry beaker collection with which to practice my potions-making.</p><p>I began making my own skin cream when I developed itchy rashes after my oldest son was born - possibly eczema, possibly stress or hormone-related. Petroleum-based creams irritate my skin now, so I make my own from simple ingredients. And dry lips are my kryptonite, so it was an obvious step to add lip balm to the mix.</p><p>I keep the recipes in the notes section of my phone, and they've evolved over time. The summers I spent in the Yukon Territory fostered my interest in botanicals, and for awhile I infused almond oil with dried yarrow and fireweed that I'd gathered from the boreal forest. I said this post has nothing to do with books, but that's not entirely true. The <a href="https://aprilwhitebooks.com/luck-and-the-long-dark" target="_blank">short story</a> I just sent in my newsletter was full of boreal botanicals, and Mr. Shaw's plant medicines class in <i>Marking Time</i> was one of my favorites to research.</p><p>Think of these recipes as more of a guideline than a rule. I'll share the things I've learned about the ingredients over the years, and if you stumble upon interesting combinations, I'd love to hear about them.</p><p>Make the lip balm first. Put a pot of water on the stove to simmer and get a sturdy measuring cup / jar / tempered glass beaker (I always used a four-cup glass measuring cup before getting my fancy new beaker set). Add a heaping 1/2 cup of coconut oil and 1/4 cup of beeswax to the measuring cup and set it in the pot to melt.</p><p>I've used almond oil instead of coconut, and it works well too. I like the coconut because I have really dry skin, but I've never tried to infuse it with herbs or flowers, so I'd probably go back to almond oil in that case.</p><p>(To infuse dried flowers or herbs into oil, just add a whole bunch into a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake them up once a day, and store them in a dark, cool place for about a month. Strain the oil through cheesecloth to use).</p><p>A friend of mine keeps bees and occasionally gives me his vacated honeycombs to process for the wax. It's a bit of work, but the resulting beeswax is deeply yellow and smells like honey. When I don't have access to fresh beeswax I buy the little pellets because they melt quicker.</p><p>(To process honeycomb, bunch it all up into 2-4 layers of cheesecloth, tied at the top with a string. Set the bundle in boiling water - ideally in a pot dedicated to messy jobs - and boil until the wax melts. Use tongs to pull the bundle out and tongs to squeeze the remaining wax water out of the bundle, then throw the bundle away. Set the wax water pot out to cool, and a few hours later you'll be able to pull the ridiculously thin crust of wax off the top of the water. If it's still dirty, you might have to do it again, but once is usually enough).</p><p>To recap, because apparently I'm one of <i>those</i> recipe bloggers - the ones who can't just write a recipe, they have to tell the story of their lives too: A heaping 1/2 cup of coconut oil (or oil of your choice) and 1/4 cup of beeswax have melted together in a container set in a pot of simmering water. Now it's time to add a heaping 1/4 cup of shea butter. It melts fast, so you add it just at the end before you take the oil mixture out of the hot water. There's something about overheating shea that I can't remember, I just know it goes it right at the end and melts fast.</p><p>Take the oil mix off the heat. If you want to add a flavor/scent, now's the time. I sometimes add about a teaspoon of Manuka honey for the anti-bacterial qualities, but a bit of vanilla or some essential oils work too.</p><p>Pour the mixture into lip balm tubes if you have them, or small empty spice jars if you don't. Chill and store them in the refrigerator until you use them. I keep a spice jar of the mix in the kitchen for lips and hands, because it makes a good, concentrated hand cream too.</p><p>But for a body cream, I do something a little different.</p><p>However much of the lip balm mixture you have left - I usually have about 1/2 a cup - measure out approximately the same amount of aloe gel into a separate measuring cup, and then blend the two together.</p><p>Think salad dressing, because you're emulsifying the oil with the gel. I use a stick blender and begin blending the moment I dump the gel into the oil container, but it can be done with a regular blender or a whisk too. The blend will be creamy and won't separate if it's emulsified properly. Pour the cream into a small jar and chill it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes until it sets. If you make extras, keep them stored in the fridge (my crisper is full of lip balm and skin cream) so the oil doesn't go rancid before you can use it.</p><p>As you can tell, my measurements are approximate, and at this point, I eyeball things rather than actually measure them. The recipes have definitely evolved with experience. Batches that were too waxy became polish for my cutting boards and tables, and occasionally I've made lip gloss instead of balm, but that's okay too. I'll list the ingredients I use here, and they'll be affiliate-linked to Amazon for ease, but please source your own through small businesses if you have them. Have fun with your kitchen witchery, and let me know how things turn out.</p><p>Heaping 1/2 cup of <a href="https://amzn.to/3puIfsV" target="_blank">coconut oil</a></p><p>1/4 cup of<a href="https://amzn.to/2KXJP7o" target="_blank"> beeswax (pellets)</a></p><p>1/4 cup of <a href="https://amzn.to/3rxuHhS" target="_blank">shea butter</a></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/34KwLt7" target="_blank">Manuka honey</a> or vanilla</p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/3nQaCBr" target="_blank">lip balm tubes</a> (and a tiny funnel)</p><p>1/2 (ish) cup of <a href="https://amzn.to/38Gadv3" target="_blank">Aloe gel</a></p>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-44475220301864107202020-06-01T14:30:00.001-07:002020-06-01T14:31:57.354-07:00Supporting the Fair Fight<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXW7mP-YGmC8ELKWk5rOfUC3radIU7In2FyY-mW4a5Fxxx7pF1y9CbyF5geXh4xgH9VSyG6_bySdNUFs2et62F3DGOxkOvqskCE6BwBvnEiai0YXfsRPORu7BWFblsPLT8tu9fIFqSuQC/s1600/IMG_0286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXW7mP-YGmC8ELKWk5rOfUC3radIU7In2FyY-mW4a5Fxxx7pF1y9CbyF5geXh4xgH9VSyG6_bySdNUFs2et62F3DGOxkOvqskCE6BwBvnEiai0YXfsRPORu7BWFblsPLT8tu9fIFqSuQC/s320/IMG_0286.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This
post, by poet and author <a href="https://www.lindsayyoungpoetry.com/">Lindsay
Young</a>, really resonates with me as I wrestle with how I can lend my voice
to help change the systemic and institutionalized racism that is woven into the fabric of America.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
book I just published, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death’s Door</i>,
is full of musings about bias and activism, preconception and responsibility,
and for some readers, it seems to be landing squarely in the zone of “exactly
what I needed to read right now.” For a lot of reasons, not the least of which
is the main character’s activism and social conscience, I’ve decided to use
Death’s Door to further a cause I feel passionate about – the right to vote.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">Former
President Barack Obama just wrote in response to the protests happening around the
country: “The point of protest is to raise public awareness, to put a spotlight
on injustice, and to make the powers that be uncomfortable; in fact, throughout
American history, it’s often only been in response to protests and civil
disobedience</span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </strong><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">that the political system has even paid attention to
marginalized communities. But eventually, </span><em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">aspirations have to be
translated into specific laws and institutional practices</em><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> — and in a democracy, that only happens when we elect
government officials who are responsive to our demands … It’s mayors and county
executives that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining
agreements with police unions. It’s district attorneys and state’s attorneys
that decide whether or not to investigate and ultimately charge those involved
in police misconduct. Those are all elected positions.</span>” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">~ Barack Obama<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Helen_Burroughs" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; letter-spacing: -0.0666667px;" target="_blank">Nannie Helen Burroughs</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; letter-spacing: -0.0666667px;">, an educator and activist for women's voting rights, when asked in 1915 what women could do with the ballot, responded pointedly: "What can she do without it?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
believe that voting is fundamental to our strength as a democracy. I believe
that politicians and policy-makers work for the people they represent, and that
we make our voices heard by choosing people who listen. I also know that since
the founding of a country in which a black man was only counted as three-fifths
of a person, and equal voting rights weren’t protected by law until 1965, there
have been policies and practices in place to deny American citizens the right
to vote. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: -0.0666667px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government." <b>~</b> <b>Earl Warren</b>, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1964)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: white;">"Most
of us understand voter suppression as the 1960s images of billy clubs and hoses
and dogs barking — aggressive interference. But in the 21st century, voter
suppression looks like administrative errors. It looks like user error. It
looks like mistakes. But it is just as intentional and just as insidious."</span>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">~ Stacey Abrams, </b>author, attorney,
and former candidate for Governor of Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Between
2010 and 2018, 1.6 million voters were purged from Georgia’s voter rolls
leaving them ineligible to vote. In the 2018 election, nearly 30,000 voters
were forced to vote on a provisional ballot, most of which did not count. More
than 100,000 votes went missing in the 2018 Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s race
because of faulty voting machines, causing votes – most of which were in
predominantly black communities – to go unrecorded. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The problems in Georgia are not, however, just Georgia's problems, just as solutions won't exclusively affect that State.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In
November 2018, <a href="https://fairfight.com/about-fair-fight/">Fair Fight</a>,
the political action group begun by Stacey Abrams to advocate for free and fair
elections, filed a historic civil rights lawsuit in <b>federal court</b> against the
Georgia Secretary of State’s Office and Georgia Board of Elections, challenging
the gross mismanagement of the 2018 election that discouraged and
disenfranchised voters. Fair Fight also exposed corruption and fought back
against 2019 legislation that – under the guise of election reform – put special
interests and vendors before voters.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This is something I feel strongly enough about to have written a heroine who believes it, and I've decided that my lane
on the Resistance highway is free and fair elections to ensure that </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">all </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">voices are heard by the policy
makers we ask to work for us. To that end, </span><b style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">all
of the ebook profits earned from sales and kindle unlimited reads of <i>Death’s Door</i> from now until the election
on November 3<sup>rd</sup>, 2020 will be donated to Fair Fight</b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> to aid in
their efforts to ensure democracy for all.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Death’s Door</span></span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> isn’t a long book, and it
isn’t an expensive book, so the thirty cents that each sale brings is a tiny
drop in the bucket this fight needs. But each drop adds a little bit more hope,
a little bit more community, and a little bit more love to that bucket, and in
the end, it’s a contribution we make together.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the fall of 1849, Edgar Allan
Poe disappeared. He was missing for five days, and was then found wandering
near Gunnar's Hall in Baltimore, delirious and possibly drunk, wearing strange
clothes and carrying a cane. Poe died four days later in a Baltimore hospital,
never having regained proper consciousness except to call out for a mysterious
person by the name of “Reynolds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course Poe was a Clocker, and I knew I would write that story
someday. What I hadn't expected was who would find Poe when he stumbled into
the 21st Century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her name is Alexandra "Ren" Reynolds, and she has a
secret too.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To buy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death’s Door</i> on Amazon or read it in
kindle unlimited: <a href="https://amzn.to/2AtlAsM">https://amzn.to/2AtlAsM</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: white;">To donate
directly to Fair Fight: </span><a href="https://fairfight.com/about-fair-fight/"><span style="color: black;">https://fairfight.com/about-fair-fight/</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: Garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-36592815401798259892020-04-20T15:00:00.000-07:002020-04-20T15:00:17.172-07:00Great Books on Kindle Unlimited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've started and stalled on this blog post so many times since March when our kids' schools closed and life shifted into something that looked very different than how I'd expected it to look.<br />
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I'm writing something I didn't expect to write, feeling transparent some days, and resilient others. Teaching myself to knit, to savor small things, and to appreciate every opportunity for human contact, no matter how digital it currently is.<br />
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No one expected the way doing business has changed for any of us, and the generosity we've all seen from every sector - from medicine to the food and service industries, from deliveries to sanitation, from musicians to authors - everyone has given their time, energy, industry, and focus to helping all of us get through this crazy time.<br />
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I didn't read for a couple of weeks, but I've started to find my reading escapes again, and I am so grateful I signed up for kindle unlimited, just for the sheer volume of great books that are available at the press of a button. Anyone who signs up for KU during the month of April will get two months of unlimited KU reading for free before the monthly payments kick in, and you can cancel any time without penalty. If you're interested, here's a link to sign up: <a href="https://amzn.to/2za3taq">https://amzn.to/2za3taq</a> You don't need a kindle device, just a phone or a computer to download the kindle app.<br />
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The entire <a href="https://amzn.to/2VKBBkT" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> series is there, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wUfct7" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> and Hobbit books are there, and recently some of my favorite authors have moved at least one of their series to KU so readers have something to escape into when the walls close in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5h5RuQrzAZLaOHEdjZQN66981K2H1Zkpp51Mh9Cs52aO_ZFb_iB_xsV-Sj5z5Vd4_mtuWJuIcRIvaFb_4hGUNbwgbXgX2FvP3oDBF84HV2SSFHCW7ucdVRWMJj4gbhdf-bjPlbGa4VTie/s1600/92206655_2843111482440949_7838798567740276736_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="712" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5h5RuQrzAZLaOHEdjZQN66981K2H1Zkpp51Mh9Cs52aO_ZFb_iB_xsV-Sj5z5Vd4_mtuWJuIcRIvaFb_4hGUNbwgbXgX2FvP3oDBF84HV2SSFHCW7ucdVRWMJj4gbhdf-bjPlbGa4VTie/s320/92206655_2843111482440949_7838798567740276736_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="237" /></a></div>
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Penny Reid moved the entire collection of <a href="https://amzn.to/3anTRG0" target="_blank">Smartypants Romance</a> books into KU, and her whole <a href="https://amzn.to/2xB50Go" target="_blank">Winston Brothers </a>collection to KU (romantic comedy).<br />
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Both of my new releases - <a href="https://amzn.to/34OCn4A" target="_blank">Code of Conduct</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/2VKBaaf" target="_blank">Code of Honor</a> are there (romantic suspense with comedy), and I've put my whole <a href="https://amzn.to/2RQiSDd" target="_blank">Immortal Descendants series</a> in kindle unlimited too (time travel fantasy).<br />
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Elizabeth Hunter is releasing her <a href="https://amzn.to/2VXJLqr" target="_blank">new paranormal women's fiction</a> series directly into KU, and has put her <a href="https://amzn.to/2xzeodz" target="_blank">contemporary romance series</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/2xB4tUU" target="_blank">Irin Chronicles</a> in too.<br />
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My fellow time travel writer, Nathan Van Coops has his <a href="https://amzn.to/2VoSSBe" target="_blank">time travel series</a> in KU, as well as a <a href="https://amzn.to/2zcmOrv" target="_blank">YA fantasy </a>series with a strong heroine, and Amy Harmon, who writes everything from contemporary romance to historical fiction has several books/series in KU, including my favorite - <a href="https://amzn.to/2XS9BPa" target="_blank">The Bird and the Sword</a> fantasies.<br />
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Those are just the easy recommendations, and most of them will only be in KU for the next three months. It's a way to say thank you to our readers, and we hope you will take advantage of all the free books at your fingertips as we stay home and save lives.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-80818625170984122362018-03-09T13:50:00.000-08:002018-03-12T12:15:15.065-07:00Ringo's London<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was cold in London in February, 2018, and the last days of my week-long trip were spent dodging snow flurries and warming frozen fingers around mugs of hot tea. I spent several days with this book in my pocket, traveling the city as Ringo and Jess might have - on foot and with an eye for the small details that average Londoners, head down against the cold, might overlook.<br />
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Some of the locations I wrote about in this book were already familiar to me, but others had to be researched online, with only old maps and available photographs to guide my words. It was magical, then, to see the places I'd only gleaned from Google and Wikipedia - to feel the age of them, experience the size and color and smell of them - and to confirm that I'd gotten things right, or at least right enough.<br />
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Before the snow came, I accidentally stumbled upon the College of Arms - that venerable institution and part of the Queen's Household which keeps the records of every noble title and Coat of Arms in England and Wales. I'd seen a photo online, and I'd guessed at the interior behind the courtroom, but I was delighted to see that I'd pictured it very nearly the way it was in real life. The next time I go to London, I will make an appointment well in advance of my visit to speak with a herald, and perhaps view the books full of Coats of Arms themselves.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The exterior courtyard of the College of Arms, facing toward the River Thames</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The interior court of the College of Arms, just inside the doors</td></tr>
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Another day I had an hour before I'd promised to meet some friends, so I walked down to Holland Park to visit the Leighton House Museum. It was a location I had carefully researched online, and had even sent my husband to visit before Ringo's book was published. Ed had remarked on the house's beauty, and made the point that the tiles in the Arab Room would be very loud if one were to attempt to sneak around inside wearing shoes. I had seen the photos on the South Kensington website, of course, but nothing had prepared me for the utter loveliness of the house in person.<br />
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Very sadly, I was not allowed to photograph the interior of the house, because the museum itself does not own the reproduction rights to several of the on-loan artworks. So I had to console myself with photos of the exterior red brick, and of the lovely, hand-made coffee mug I bought in the gift shop, which has become my new favorite.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leighton House Museum, Holland Park Square</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leighton House - exterior of the Arab Hall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the gift shop inside the Leighton House</td></tr>
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Here is a link to the official Leighton House website, and I promise, it's so much more breathtaking in person, than in photos: <a href="https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum1.aspx" target="_blank">Leighton House Museum</a><br />
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Then it was my last day in London, and after two days of snow, Ringo and I still had some places to visit. First stop was the Langham Hotel - the famous luxury hotel in Fitzrovia and the setting for the fateful Oscar Wilde/Arthur Conan Doyle meeting which inspired Ringo's Sherlockian adventures. I first took this photo ...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuJCUBmlnvkp91JwTX0gpCB24-ceHkVBpngxOc__9dC0La8F4MgFJX2FOe2qn1jzOd-nrVlYVNQXHOt9G0oUQV7BzI4xWax2Vo-PMfdfShYPsrNfOiMP1Ixe8SDdqa1EfEYvPDZsAAkcQ/s1600/IMG_7601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuJCUBmlnvkp91JwTX0gpCB24-ceHkVBpngxOc__9dC0La8F4MgFJX2FOe2qn1jzOd-nrVlYVNQXHOt9G0oUQV7BzI4xWax2Vo-PMfdfShYPsrNfOiMP1Ixe8SDdqa1EfEYvPDZsAAkcQ/s320/IMG_7601.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exterior of the historic Langham Hotel, London</td></tr>
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... which required an explanation to the two doorman who had posed so exuberantly in the background. Hassan and Daniel were very enthusiastic about the idea of their hotel having been written into my book, and Daniel explained that he had also written a book set around the Langham - a children's book about Sherlock Holmes' dog - and he wanted to buy my copy of Urchin from me right there. I still had too many photo adventures to take with this copy, so Ed graciously agreed to deliver it to the Langham the next day. The gentlemen were lovely, and generously allowed me to take as many photos of the interior of the hotel as I liked.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hassan and Daniel, doormen at the Langham Hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The historic register plaque describing the meeting between Wilde and Conan Doyle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhMC87lyyYZU3-QhajIfAjJ384bNfbOncAaB5ecZ8l4Wj3nOICPQstgIV9gUUSXlggC_IL73F23Gy4KCyeA9xTBq6Up07WyBOrNngp87Zg-wf4KxoKIm_U5ICPxPHavku_ZH8ACOIABzK/s1600/IMG_7606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhMC87lyyYZU3-QhajIfAjJ384bNfbOncAaB5ecZ8l4Wj3nOICPQstgIV9gUUSXlggC_IL73F23Gy4KCyeA9xTBq6Up07WyBOrNngp87Zg-wf4KxoKIm_U5ICPxPHavku_ZH8ACOIABzK/s320/IMG_7606.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the front doors at the Langham Hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnr_L35GkgRxnmFpD9KGdOF0dXW3Esqee_pO8RXe6H8ZwQkW0pAcc463QBbxm956k33yJYHlwjMwdykguXAXXg4ub71l1ePBPC_VgvSYU7MmYA8nSXunmudp9yTZIxMARvHDe3mX4Ddki/s1600/IMG_7610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnr_L35GkgRxnmFpD9KGdOF0dXW3Esqee_pO8RXe6H8ZwQkW0pAcc463QBbxm956k33yJYHlwjMwdykguXAXXg4ub71l1ePBPC_VgvSYU7MmYA8nSXunmudp9yTZIxMARvHDe3mX4Ddki/s320/IMG_7610.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comfortable places to wait for one's carriage at the Langham Hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1bZK3SJg3T07c3xb6m72sKxgbL-NyQV02kJ222xP_hmMC5eOGyr1CrympxXOSg6SAAivTJLmJ53Vru012h6Qyynt_UslzpGh_Ordm18MtwmwlyUthAbGqPwHxcB8x2aPf1Q6v0A_F_q0/s1600/IMG_7603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1464" data-original-width="1464" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1bZK3SJg3T07c3xb6m72sKxgbL-NyQV02kJ222xP_hmMC5eOGyr1CrympxXOSg6SAAivTJLmJ53Vru012h6Qyynt_UslzpGh_Ordm18MtwmwlyUthAbGqPwHxcB8x2aPf1Q6v0A_F_q0/s320/IMG_7603.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Art Deco style is not Victorian, but I can imagine Oscar Wilde in this setting</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bar in the Langham Hotel</td></tr>
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After bidding the lovely doormen farewell, I ventured up Great Portland Avenue and made my way to the corner of Marylebone High Street and Paddington Gardens, where the historic and gorgeous Daunt Books, specializing in travel books, has occupied a three-story building since 1912, and is alleged to be the oldest custom-built bookstore in the world. It is one of those bookish places that inspire fantasies of finding every secret passage behind the shelves, and discovering whole rooms full of books hidden within the walls.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9VHajKddd5ikGZNiEzw_GjPJD-e_QiAHuBMN2mmY6doSkDuUFne2lcTgsHkfoPLvVcua9Kdnmm4rUZe6L5Au6lDrIN0h1t50_fm7sevIMvZcGCMSjlFNazk8RIHc2T7nuITbJiHko56O/s1600/IMG_7619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9VHajKddd5ikGZNiEzw_GjPJD-e_QiAHuBMN2mmY6doSkDuUFne2lcTgsHkfoPLvVcua9Kdnmm4rUZe6L5Au6lDrIN0h1t50_fm7sevIMvZcGCMSjlFNazk8RIHc2T7nuITbJiHko56O/s320/IMG_7619.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daunt's Books in Marylebone, London</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxHNiBW08oWnT5gn0RhuomesGH55FJQPi1b4h9axowbCf72UESZnm4aIwnDjKsVwSpvsytE0lnsxoDYkz4TquOuKCv7rv36P7o-vp6G0E1icg7o35k-fQjszdfrqfOPcxPvsxS8iFbnnl/s1600/IMG_7624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxHNiBW08oWnT5gn0RhuomesGH55FJQPi1b4h9axowbCf72UESZnm4aIwnDjKsVwSpvsytE0lnsxoDYkz4TquOuKCv7rv36P7o-vp6G0E1icg7o35k-fQjszdfrqfOPcxPvsxS8iFbnnl/s320/IMG_7624.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nice view in Daunt's Books</td></tr>
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<div>
I had placed Mrs. Dorne's pawnshop just around the corner on Paddington Gardens because halfway down the block is an almost invisible alley, listed on maps as a street since well before 1885, called Grotto Passage.</div>
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The passage is no wider than a man's shoulders, and leads to a small courtyard, maybe twice the size of my living room, on which remains the building that once housed the Marylebone Ragged School, which was the Victorian way of providing education for poor children whose families couldn't afford to send them to "public" (private) schools.</div>
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I had stumbled across this ragged school in my research about the type of schooling that was available to street urchins in Victorian London, and it was like discovering hidden treasure to actually find the passage and building that I'd read about.</div>
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Finally, the cold had seeped in well beyond my leopard print gloves, and I had just one more photo to take before I could seek the warmth of a pub.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbeyFdEtf2eQsTYY5coJwFL7r3NAFhVqSRB-qnkjH7unZo6GyR-N2-8jAkSmxIF5sKaHIaRHIMalidoLCOTSxr-zJppys-bQfNq0O3dDuOgcHBM34yQLTxJohI_jwIZvESvQDf2Q-J8DY/s1600/IMG_7638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1046" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbeyFdEtf2eQsTYY5coJwFL7r3NAFhVqSRB-qnkjH7unZo6GyR-N2-8jAkSmxIF5sKaHIaRHIMalidoLCOTSxr-zJppys-bQfNq0O3dDuOgcHBM34yQLTxJohI_jwIZvESvQDf2Q-J8DY/s320/IMG_7638.jpg" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Townhouses on Regents Park</td></tr>
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<div>
These aren't the actual townhouses in which I placed Ringo and Charlie, because I was too cold to walk that far, but these were designed and built by the same architect. All of these windows face Regents Park, as does Ringo's house on Cornwall Terrace, and a quick property search just revealed that an 8-bedroom, 8k square foot house on Cornwall Terrace is currently listed for sale at over 27 million pounds.</div>
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My other adventures in and around London have included locations and research for previous books, and I'll share the photos here in case you find yourself wandering around the historic city one day, looking for interesting things to see. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXcdFihOjzi6kOVtcFghz3zkneAmfy6XdVTJoasJI3E38SVDMdDJdMKPXAMcsgNPpnV8U5kzNoXl1Nj0gzhiVugvSDJ1GbMCZ70jQyGcZNcKMu3n8ColSHo8sBJqI39KCgms9WVbxRMve/s1600/photo+4+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1322" data-original-width="1600" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXcdFihOjzi6kOVtcFghz3zkneAmfy6XdVTJoasJI3E38SVDMdDJdMKPXAMcsgNPpnV8U5kzNoXl1Nj0gzhiVugvSDJ1GbMCZ70jQyGcZNcKMu3n8ColSHo8sBJqI39KCgms9WVbxRMve/s320/photo+4+%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tower of London</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYeZWbeLDA64y8ySPxoGvMCfGhMePuOEAFsAme4GTNLh0dETVU2j_5gWr5Yfdwj4kKUoScIQczNuFxnyb_6zle9nkmyGhATpvWUrHWzkkywUholFiM1eYDcGbvKaN1vcqNoVmIVwedRx21/s1600/IMG_7434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="1396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYeZWbeLDA64y8ySPxoGvMCfGhMePuOEAFsAme4GTNLh0dETVU2j_5gWr5Yfdwj4kKUoScIQczNuFxnyb_6zle9nkmyGhATpvWUrHWzkkywUholFiM1eYDcGbvKaN1vcqNoVmIVwedRx21/s320/IMG_7434.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Borough Market</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFleqn_v9kcdm4QD_gD3iM4ehucucP3ZRAlA6Tkpm9X_q5lcAvkmz60lxGqY2IxczX-LN4TMFqY2MgNYNFz4Mhwv9tU3m1Qqx3vF_4KDghPFuJPG5vcpH8ELbXr_7Jr_Zs94Oj4S3DFo3I/s1600/9e7946e5-3600-4496-8005-35e8a89f408a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="718" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFleqn_v9kcdm4QD_gD3iM4ehucucP3ZRAlA6Tkpm9X_q5lcAvkmz60lxGqY2IxczX-LN4TMFqY2MgNYNFz4Mhwv9tU3m1Qqx3vF_4KDghPFuJPG5vcpH8ELbXr_7Jr_Zs94Oj4S3DFo3I/s320/9e7946e5-3600-4496-8005-35e8a89f408a.JPG" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Paul's Cathedral</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxzs-ARAb_W5ziyLKrJoQLWQtxOKadf9z6y5-7BzPtLatlX7p4e_gp_D1aFYIWg1JhxkxHU3TyaFA3FFySd61RI6IhyphenhyphenEbotM_hMJnkwc32qq7bM_wq35Jv6Qfew4vRQv7TAUKT9cYYFl2/s1600/IMG_0480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1280" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxzs-ARAb_W5ziyLKrJoQLWQtxOKadf9z6y5-7BzPtLatlX7p4e_gp_D1aFYIWg1JhxkxHU3TyaFA3FFySd61RI6IhyphenhyphenEbotM_hMJnkwc32qq7bM_wq35Jv6Qfew4vRQv7TAUKT9cYYFl2/s320/IMG_0480.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parliament from a boat on the Thames</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEEAQcCaBODVRS9HTp3XJXojiO_9EBt0bbch5e1VSqg2syIoPVOqdLVLBMzdKf8yi12tJzY2oW7EDFfpKyfAuOdCOghbzkH6WWFe8ISJFDODx96sh86bdaspFNiV_JZGXMKKgvh97ZzNR/s1600/IMG_2931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEEAQcCaBODVRS9HTp3XJXojiO_9EBt0bbch5e1VSqg2syIoPVOqdLVLBMzdKf8yi12tJzY2oW7EDFfpKyfAuOdCOghbzkH6WWFe8ISJFDODx96sh86bdaspFNiV_JZGXMKKgvh97ZzNR/s320/IMG_2931.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portobello Road Market</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMpPCZ7k8NQMDpxgLfFaCpgBVYvZGPb3Q_Anpmqk57fATxZuc-pf9h98ICjMAMQDYSrwZlILayBfPEa8lKmMehGUU0Apq5zhl61FBdkKZeW7argFUCPAx0dTXi2l3jF8CU-F9MeZRKZDg/s1600/IMG_2934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="1284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMpPCZ7k8NQMDpxgLfFaCpgBVYvZGPb3Q_Anpmqk57fATxZuc-pf9h98ICjMAMQDYSrwZlILayBfPEa8lKmMehGUU0Apq5zhl61FBdkKZeW7argFUCPAx0dTXi2l3jF8CU-F9MeZRKZDg/s320/IMG_2934.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portobello Road</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWTp7ZxPFxudsO10mAujpqzvhWchWwMIiGbNwgFhm6GJJ1dSml6vN1s02KDZEwnqqWByOrpMHamaKDx_ui1I73faUhNEhCoedw0mGLvh778ZthPXR3sLE1WJN4Gj9yfLeBIz53pugP5p73/s1600/IMG_7555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWTp7ZxPFxudsO10mAujpqzvhWchWwMIiGbNwgFhm6GJJ1dSml6vN1s02KDZEwnqqWByOrpMHamaKDx_ui1I73faUhNEhCoedw0mGLvh778ZthPXR3sLE1WJN4Gj9yfLeBIz53pugP5p73/s320/IMG_7555.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Electric Cinema on Portobello Road</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLf6NwkiKtMfcGtbqLYIWasI__O35oZRxnCTCK2hWpjk2sgtmawUpz1t2PrEPS6BIdmXdZQaM6rd3Bkis_TNo6shb5LqvhSPTYK5Psgm33L4iDUjvaJXQeqooE5K-_SXTr7TehI7xbrOt/s1600/IMG_3343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLf6NwkiKtMfcGtbqLYIWasI__O35oZRxnCTCK2hWpjk2sgtmawUpz1t2PrEPS6BIdmXdZQaM6rd3Bkis_TNo6shb5LqvhSPTYK5Psgm33L4iDUjvaJXQeqooE5K-_SXTr7TehI7xbrOt/s320/IMG_3343.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyde Park outside Kensington Palace</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkp-GddusGF0IVqf60V0LjW80tdqXASQ5-QEe7yetMfziBm5LfsOoyrTqfgsW_jg1Pv8_4kELKYPU-cnbImIKV0BJbr4Xvkk0CVGaeMO7KUk2atfoAIFrub07MpZOxWE6IJehQXhDzRKfp/s1600/IMG_3060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="1340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkp-GddusGF0IVqf60V0LjW80tdqXASQ5-QEe7yetMfziBm5LfsOoyrTqfgsW_jg1Pv8_4kELKYPU-cnbImIKV0BJbr4Xvkk0CVGaeMO7KUk2atfoAIFrub07MpZOxWE6IJehQXhDzRKfp/s320/IMG_3060.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King's Cross Station</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7HVrEv6BZhbhP7iYFUAWb6GQCWXmxGKK788F0jU0_kszu4DWPo2-Q4vejsdIJCSdydOidFaBtmYS4WvnH_Su33_0GSeSPkaAgQ24-W3W-uch5neei9rc2YBItcuykPO-f5z0vYA1CqbS/s1600/IMG_3062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1436" data-original-width="1436" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7HVrEv6BZhbhP7iYFUAWb6GQCWXmxGKK788F0jU0_kszu4DWPo2-Q4vejsdIJCSdydOidFaBtmYS4WvnH_Su33_0GSeSPkaAgQ24-W3W-uch5neei9rc2YBItcuykPO-f5z0vYA1CqbS/s320/IMG_3062.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The permanent exhibit at the British Library</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB1vGTMnaHydm_wneNsCpQs-jxKyZTD_-E4BItJUKlSliQZz1s65pJ2bNALtH8QJl7cEpipZNrs54URqQ-T8WV5qhxCNZQbrCYB8HAg3og1JLaJDNYE1oQO_HhDr1lHCoGcvhqIR9HMynU/s1600/IMG_3149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB1vGTMnaHydm_wneNsCpQs-jxKyZTD_-E4BItJUKlSliQZz1s65pJ2bNALtH8QJl7cEpipZNrs54URqQ-T8WV5qhxCNZQbrCYB8HAg3og1JLaJDNYE1oQO_HhDr1lHCoGcvhqIR9HMynU/s320/IMG_3149.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leeds Castle in Kent</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRYkLnnuujgjpS52SXdSEvX-9OiG6khqhOKpUqpOZDIjcwhcI3eW85Of-NlAUA6eOcKxHCIs-kH2QayKaq1s0WA5bE-Ce-cWIUxvfWq90c8QRoeV5439rFBHHiHVk_9B6p_YMZGGur-j-/s1600/IMG_3131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRYkLnnuujgjpS52SXdSEvX-9OiG6khqhOKpUqpOZDIjcwhcI3eW85Of-NlAUA6eOcKxHCIs-kH2QayKaq1s0WA5bE-Ce-cWIUxvfWq90c8QRoeV5439rFBHHiHVk_9B6p_YMZGGur-j-/s320/IMG_3131.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The actual artwork hanging at Leeds Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fw_uBv7Cxg9DyyyGrS3bzsGTn-bTeqRI1KScmNK6DAifJcicgxaWl-u8fBfuYePKd71AogrLB8XyqHc9pg_09gZEm1_-vaqL9RX8E0Z1FdJB-9y3NqYmru7R_OvP0y428vkPfKoUiUH1/s1600/IMG_2212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fw_uBv7Cxg9DyyyGrS3bzsGTn-bTeqRI1KScmNK6DAifJcicgxaWl-u8fBfuYePKd71AogrLB8XyqHc9pg_09gZEm1_-vaqL9RX8E0Z1FdJB-9y3NqYmru7R_OvP0y428vkPfKoUiUH1/s320/IMG_2212.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bletchley Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3F2shlDTuzLF_dSYpx32waL3Oj7FufdGvLPqnlCTl95HcIg04x-P21BYJoCR86yHBugEdl47679z6CVxDPRgqwr8O6i8GAIUy5G4wFZ0chX19BrS7vgsyK0Fh50GIJYehSnFWwRWGsowy/s1600/IMG_5740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3F2shlDTuzLF_dSYpx32waL3Oj7FufdGvLPqnlCTl95HcIg04x-P21BYJoCR86yHBugEdl47679z6CVxDPRgqwr8O6i8GAIUy5G4wFZ0chX19BrS7vgsyK0Fh50GIJYehSnFWwRWGsowy/s320/IMG_5740.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Diagon Alley set at the Harry Potter Studios</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANVLgED-FwD5jul-iFI99Q4RMB1eEdzLj0lmK1KsozuMJWwb4A2rkENnCPNJ3fC-ErvNVCgOEDvkVHhM25JJP1YXtnItzDrHJcx978qaVP_Wa-zvrnyE3JedtRaBoakp78Rgy_Wf2MjIF/s1600/photo+1+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="1280" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANVLgED-FwD5jul-iFI99Q4RMB1eEdzLj0lmK1KsozuMJWwb4A2rkENnCPNJ3fC-ErvNVCgOEDvkVHhM25JJP1YXtnItzDrHJcx978qaVP_Wa-zvrnyE3JedtRaBoakp78Rgy_Wf2MjIF/s320/photo+1+%25283%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hogwarts Great Hall set at the Harry Potter Studios</td></tr>
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April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-41151166988165107032018-03-06T10:12:00.000-08:002018-03-06T10:12:14.247-08:00Best YA Books Under $4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhk3tGnOhXRpF8I3tuaUkXI9zSqPcLvLDpTPv6PjgmO86MvpvADX9iYI96iJD043EqhUjgMIeAWMx2rautTaGWxAGP4dHMPxIfoKzqI-U17M6yH0OYF0gR4W3k8L0gZIsn28ki1L3iJVq/s1600/BestYA4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhk3tGnOhXRpF8I3tuaUkXI9zSqPcLvLDpTPv6PjgmO86MvpvADX9iYI96iJD043EqhUjgMIeAWMx2rautTaGWxAGP4dHMPxIfoKzqI-U17M6yH0OYF0gR4W3k8L0gZIsn28ki1L3iJVq/s640/BestYA4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I read a book every two or three days, and consequently, I have a fairly vast storehouse of book recommendations to fling at friends, acquaintances, parents at my kids' schools, their crossing guard, my bank teller, and the cable guy. I've built a page of book recommendations on my website because I need lists, and I go there periodically to check the prices of my favorite books so I can shout to my reader group on social media when there's a sale.<br />
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Here's a link to that page if anyone is interested: <a href="https://www.aprilwhitebooks.com/recommended-.html" target="_blank">AprilWhiteBooks.com</a><br />
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A couple of my favorite YA Fantasy books are on sale right now, and I haven't done a blog post in ... wow, months, so this is a good time to talk about some great books.</div>
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<b>Gregor the Overlander (The Underland Chronicles, book 1 of 5) by Suzanne Collins</b><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0041T52UY&asins=B0041T52UY&linkId=65b8e35067e8230451772e2cb3e41981&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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This book is the first in a five-book series, perfect for about 10+ year-olds. Suzanne Collins, the author of the Hunger Games, wrote the Underland series first, and it's full of giant bats, rats, battles, and the sort of adventures a twelve-year-old boy can get into when he's helping a strange girl save her underworld. Be advised, Collins doesn't shy away from the tough stuff. At the end of it all, Gregor has to deal with some hard truths about war, even inside his own happy ending. I read this series out loud to my boys when they were 8, and they've since read it again to themselves. Highly recommended.<br />
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<b>The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson (book 1 of 3)</b><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B004U6URJY&asins=B004U6URJY&linkId=c40bc041d322d362bf003f6f1bfde182&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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This fantasy series is geared more toward girls, aged about 12+. The heroine is as unlikely as the adventure on which she finds herself in the desert, against the elements, and even against magic. Her personal journey is a valuable one as she discovers her own strength and determination to save the people she was meant to rule. The romantic thread through the trilogy is subtle, yet satisfying even to an adult reader, and I've read these books several times.<br />
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<b>An Urchin of Means (The Baker Street series, book 1 of 3) by April White</b><br />
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My 10-year-old son loved this, and my 75-year-old father did too. The urchin of the title is Ringo Devereux, who knows far too much for a young Victorian man of means, as he is the product of his childhood on the street and his travels through time. He and his 10-year-old female pickpocket cohort become the unintentional inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle as they solve the actual mysteries on which the Sherlock Holmes adventures are based.<br />
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<b>The Queen's Poisoner (The Kingfountain series, book 1 of 6) by Jeff Wheeler</b><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B013UVNZ2K&asins=B013UVNZ2K&linkId=272de8237f8f2f89ac47b1bc9070c341&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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This entire six-book series is currently on sale for $2 (or less) per book. It's a fantasy series appropriate for about 12+, and begins with young Owen Kiskaddon, a duke's son traded as a hostage to a corrupt king, who secretly learns to survive from the king's own assassin. The whole series is full of magic, adventure, war, intrigue, and a bit of romance just to keep it real. The audiobooks are also on sale, and the whole series is well worth the investment.<br />
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<b>Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, book 1 of 9) by Keven Hearne</b><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B004J4WN0I&asins=B004J4WN0I&linkId=44588475f3a3560d14cf980db981fa60&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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There are 9 books in this excellent urban fantasy series about a two thousand-year-old Druid masquerading as a twenty-something-year-old rare book and herb shopkeeper. It is certainly not written as a YA series, but both of my boys have inhaled it in e-book and audiobook formats, and they demanded I read it too. I loved the whole series, especially the Irish Wolfhound the Druid has taught to mind-speak, and the whole pantheon of Gods and deities from every culture in the world. Highly recommended.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-71281361978044639712017-10-26T12:12:00.000-07:002017-10-26T12:12:21.033-07:00Light a Small Lantern<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjURHYYXfZqBPA8KeXIcsoedt0euCB5XICD5whYcui9IioOfVw7be6neI9Mq80-Wtr7hctQsYVJn_WmQWupXNxIhkSpXs0L1WDhQlnaJmmzWpUn68Oqxshe1uCMMYIlVNJJtqz_cW9DLZ5h/s1600/Massoudy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjURHYYXfZqBPA8KeXIcsoedt0euCB5XICD5whYcui9IioOfVw7be6neI9Mq80-Wtr7hctQsYVJn_WmQWupXNxIhkSpXs0L1WDhQlnaJmmzWpUn68Oqxshe1uCMMYIlVNJJtqz_cW9DLZ5h/s400/Massoudy.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reproduced by kind permission of the artist, Hassan Massoudy.<br />"Instead of railing against the darkness, it's better to light a small lantern."<br />Chinese Proverb. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hassanmassoudy/" target="_blank">Hassan Massoudy on Instagram</a></td></tr>
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My husband just got back from working for six months in the Yukon Territory of Canada, very far removed from U.S. politics, natural disasters, hate crimes, mass shootings, and the growing sense of powerlessness among people who wish for something different.<br />
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He'd been home only a few days when he pulled me away from the hearing of our children. "Where did all your possibility go?"<br />
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His question was a direct punch to the solar plexus, and I knew exactly what he meant. I just hadn't put it into words because it had crept up slowly and insidiously, like a thin, poisonous darkness slipping under the door.<br />
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Somehow, in the past nine months, my own sense of powerlessness in the face of all the negativity had become something smaller and more personal. Somehow, that powerlessness had grown a voice and a form, and it came out of my mouth as complaints.<br />
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This was truly awful news. I'm a person who firmly believes that a complaint without a request or a solution is just a lot of negative energy being put into the universe. I've never had patience for it, and I rarely indulged in it. In my previous life as a film producer there was no room for my complaints - it was my job to fix the things other people complained of, and to anticipate things so they never became complaints.<br />
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When I looked at the things about which I'd been complaining, I felt helpless to affect any sort of change - they were too big, and too far outside my reach. There were too many obstacles and people standing in the way for me to see a solution that I could impact in any way. It was an utterly helpless thing to feel, and for a time I felt like the only option was for me to just say nothing at all.<br />
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But shutting up isn't the answer either. We've seen what staying quiet in the face of injustice looks like, and not only is there no power in it, silence actually harms people, and ultimately, affects our own self-confidence in very negative ways.<br />
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Yesterday I spent four hours helping an author friend format her book. She had made the choice to re-acquire the rights to this book, re-write, re-edit, and publish it independently when she discovered she had breast cancer - when time and opportunity took on new definitions. It was hot in my house, she'd had another chemo treatment on Monday, and half our time was spent finding creative commons vectors to use in chapter headings and time spacers. She made choices about margins, line spacing, page counts, and fonts, and when she left, my friend had all the tools I could give her to format her own paperback for publication.<br />
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My husband asked me if I'd gotten any value from the long session away from my own writing. "Yes," I said. "I made a difference. I helped make something possible for someone else."<br />
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In those four hours, indeed for the whole day, the complaints that felt too big had faded into background noise. I might not be able to make a big difference, but I could make a small one, and somehow, it was enough.<br />
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To complain is a habit and a choice, and it's one in which I'm finished indulging. There's no power in complaints without solutions or requests, and I need whatever power I posses for all the small differences I can make to the people around me.<br />
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Today, on Instagram, I saw the beautiful Islamic calligraphy piece by Hassan Massoudy, and it spoke the words I can once again hear: <b>"Instead of railing against the darkness, it's better to light a small lantern."</b> Thank you, Mr. Massoudy, for the words, for your beautiful art, and for allowing me to illustrate my own sense of what's possible, for which I am again reaching with both hands.<br />
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We can all find small lanterns to light, and if enough of us light them, the world will shine.<br />
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<br />April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-70735472428331412282017-10-23T14:10:00.002-07:002017-10-23T14:10:32.782-07:00An Apology, A Confession, and An ExcerptI've been hiding.<br />
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At first it was politics. The election and subsequent scandal upon horror upon disaster have left me feeling scraped raw and staked out on the mountaintop for buzzards to eat my intestines.</div>
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So, yeah. I started hiding from Facebook and Twitter, because most days it felt like the news was just pouring acid into open wounds.</div>
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I've read blog posts by other authors who said that they've had trouble writing in this political climate - they've had trouble feeling like anything they do could possibly make a difference. It's a sentiment I totally get, and something I struggle with too.</div>
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I wasn't writing - or at least, not seriously or with any kind of intention. Maybe politics had something to do with it, maybe it was because I'd finished a series into which I had poured heart and soul, or maybe I was worried I wouldn't be able to pull off something new. In any case, I have 20,000 words of Bas' novel, the first couple of chapters of a contemporary political thriller, and two short stories to show for the last six months.<br />
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And boy, have I been feeling guilty.<br />
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Writing short stories was an interesting switch to make, and I think they were the things that gave me back confidence that I can do this - I can imagine a story, create interesting characters, wrap them up in a compelling plot, and actually finish the thing. My stories been been submitted to two different short story competitions, so I can't publish them here until the results are announced, but I'm pretty proud of them. One is about the deadliest female sniper in WWII, and one is about a last meal.</div>
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If any of you are writers, aspiring writers, or you know aspiring writers (including kids and teens), here are some links to writing competitions. They're pretty valuable resources, and worth checking out: <a href="http://stephiesmith.com/contests.html" target="_blank">Stephie Smith's Contest List</a> and <a href="https://winningwriters.com/" target="_blank">Winning Writers</a></div>
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So, as most of you have figured out, when I went into social media hiding, I stopped talking about writing, and not talking about it fed into the downward spiral of not doing it, which led to less talking, and then even less doing.</div>
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I'm so sorry I haven't been communicating. My excuse is guilt, which is a very poor excuse indeed. And since guilt - especially of the self-induced variety - is one of my least favorite emotions, I'm pretty much done with it. Also, I've missed interacting with readers. I've missed <i>you</i>.</div>
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So, this is me now - out of hiding, because I'm finally writing on purpose, with intention, and fully inspired.</div>
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Also because Ringo's voice - his adult voice - finally swam up and broke the surface, and now he's smirking at me and challenging me, and daring me to go ahead, try <i>not</i> to tell his stories.<br />
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His stories are novellas, which means they're faster to write and faster to edit. My plan at the moment is to publish the first one in January, and get the next two out fairly soon after that. I'll let you know more as soon as I've put dates on the calendar, and in the meantime, I'll keep writing, and keep talking about writing, and hopefully we can pick up our conversations with each other where we left off.<br />
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Thank you for your patience while I figured out how to shut Pandora's box on all the scary stuff, and just focus on listening to the voices that inspire creativity.<br />
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Ringo's voice is pretty inspiring. So is Oscar Wilde's:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> I looked up to find the enormously amused Oscar Wilde
smiling down at me. “Oh dear, I do hope I didn’t frighten that poor child away
from whatever nefarious task you had planned for it,” he said cheerfully.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> “<i>She</i> had just
successfully picked my pocket. I was merely attempting to restore a shred of my
dignity as a reformed thief while relieving her of the ill-gotten gain,” I
said, as I straightened the infernal cravat.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I'm going back to work on Ringo's book, and look for more newsletters soon with some other story bites. In the meantime, have a wonderful week, and Happy Halloween!</div>
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April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-72155619419547921942017-02-24T12:49:00.000-08:002017-02-24T22:57:12.285-08:00Hidden Figures - A Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">A few weeks ago, my husband and I were very honored to have been invited by dear friends to the<a href="http://aprilwhitebooks.blogspot.com/2017/02/libraries-scripters-and-vanquishing.html" target="_blank"> USC Scripter Awards</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://aprilwhitebooks.blogspot.com/2017/02/libraries-scripters-and-vanquishing.html" target="_blank">.</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">That evening, we struck up a conversation with a couple we encountered in one of the Library exhibits. Later, as the awards ceremony got underway, I realized that the woman with whom I'd so enjoyed discussing evening gowns and Virginia and Mexico was Margot Lee Shetterly, the author of the book, </span><i style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Hidden Figures</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">. She was at the Scripter Awards as an honoree, along with the screenwriter for the film based on her work, which my family had just seen two nights before.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">After dinner, Ed and I sought Margot and her husband Aran again so I could properly gush about her work. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I had loved the movie, </span><i style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Hidden Figures</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"> - a deft weaving together of the threads from three of the women's lives, layered in the subtle and glaring racism, and painting a vivid picture of life as an educated, professional black woman in the early 1960s - but after the conversations we had with Margot and Aran, I was inspired to read the book.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I read on a kindle for 3am wake-ups, but I also splurged on the whispersync audiobook so I could listen while I drove, walked the dog, and cooked dinner. My younger son caught several parts of it on our drives to and from swim practice, and we sometimes sat in the car long after arriving home to finish the chapter. My older son heard the book on the way home from robotics, with the same fascination for the science and possibilities of the future that had gripped the women at NASA. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>Hidden Figures</i> is a story about being black in America during a time of social upheaval, when resistance to change was almost as strong as the resistance to affect change. It's a story about being a woman in a world that needed women to work during the war, and then pushed back when they wanted to keep working. It's a story about fighting for an education in a world that offered few opportunities to those who weren't white and male. And it's a story about the grace, strength, and fierce determination it took to be a black women with math, science, and engineering skills, and a desire to make a difference to their country, their community, and their families, in a world that could only see their gender and the color of their skin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">“Women, on the other hand, had to wield their intellects like a scythe, hacking away against the stubborn underbrush of low expectations.”</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Margot Lee Shetterly spent six years peeling back the layers of their stories and reassembling them into a book that was bigger than the women and their journey, and yet so intimate and personal it felt like being allowed into someone's living room to listen to their tale first-hand. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">She then took the stories of the women and placed them against the backdrop of a time in America that our contemporary eyes can look back on with wonder and nostalgia, but also see, with deep, abiding shame, the injustice, the discrimination, the blatant racism that riddled the integrity of our democracy, as if the very foundation of our freedom was run through like wormwood.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><i>"Who knew American democracy more intimately than the Negro people? They knew democracy’s every virtue, vice, and shortcoming, its voice and contour, by its profound and persistent absence in their lives. The failure to secure the blessings of democracy was the feature that most defined their existence in America."</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">One of the most striking elements of the book, which also permeated the film to great effect, was the unrelenting grace with which the women faced the adversities that seemed to come from every possible direction. In the face of educational discrimination, inherent workplace sexism, and overt racism, the black female mathematicians and engineers comported themselves with exceptional strength and dignity. The women knew that every step forward they took was one more step forward for their community, and any misstep could have the potential to set the community back with just as much impact.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Margot Lee Shetterly wrote an exceptional book. Her choice of language, her expression of ideas, her weaving of personal stories through the grand tapestry of the history of NASA - all were exquisitely wrought and vividly shared with the reader. Hidden Figures opened a door to a time I only knew by reputation, and it spoke its secrets with directness and honesty. And through the women's stories, the idea that stood out as a beacon among all the shining starpoints of light was at the heart of all that <i>Hidden Figures</i> stood for:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><i>“Katherine Johnson knew: once you took the
first step, anything was possible.”</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i> - Margot Lee Shetterly, <i>Hidden Figures</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-67789093521748237422017-02-07T21:27:00.002-08:002017-02-07T21:27:24.941-08:00Libraries, Scripters, and Vanquishing Dragons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
These are interesting times.<br />
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These are times that call for stories - all the stories. Fantasies for escape, romances for dreams, histories for lessons, fiction for truths, fairy tales for strength, and comedies for the will to climb out of bed and face each day.<br />
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I've been reading Neil Gaiman's <i>The View from the Cheap Seats </i>in bite-sized chunks. It's a library book that I keep on the table between the Moroccan sofas on which my boys sprawl (boys don't sit - they sprawl) when the TV is on, Sometimes the best way to connect with busy boys is to put myself in the same room with them. And if I can't convince them to watch an episode of Sherlock or Poldark with me (the face that's made when Poldark is suggested is approximately equivalent to a "the dog just farted on me" face) - that's usually when I pick up Gaiman's book.<br />
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I find Neil Gaiman to be ridiculously and excessively quotable. Perhaps he's just that relevant, or maybe he has found access to channeling the deepest, least-able-to-be-coherent thoughts of most of the literate world. In any case, I find that he always says what I mean.<br />
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For example, this - from his Newbery Medal acceptance speech for The Graveyard:<br />
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<i>We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who </i>with<i> that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort.</i><br />
<i> And that is why we write.</i><br />
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The last book in my YA time travel series was published in January, and a couple of readers have written me to say that some things I wrote really resonated with them. One reader thanked me for writing a Jewish character, because she could see herself in my books. Another reader appreciated my young heroine's growing confidence with her own feminism, and can't wait until her daughter is old enough to read the books herself. These are the highest compliments anyone could give me as an author, and the generosity of my readers blows me away. I'm not sure why I'm so stunned that others can find their own stories in what I've written - I've done the same thing with books my whole reading life. I wasn't a musical prodigy forbidden from my instrument because of my gender, like Menolly was in Anne McCaffery's <i>Dragonsinger</i>, but her defiance was mine when I tried out for the boys' basketball team because there wasn't one for girls. I didn't accidentally impress a clutch of fire lizards who hatched during a storm to become her most loyal friends, but my own most loyal friendships felt just as accidental and impetuous, and I still feel the magic and wonder of them.<br />
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When I graduated from eighth grade, the librarian at my elementary school gave me the school's copy of <i>D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths</i> because I had checked it out twice a year, every year, since fourth grade. The Trinity Library in Dublin is my idea of what heaven looks, feels, and smells like, and I just visited the British Library in London, where the original Magna Carta is on display just a few feet away from the handwritten lyrics of The Beatles. These things all speak to my soul. I <i>find</i> myself in libraries. My curiosity grows wings, my questions find a multitude of possibilities, and the words of the dead find new life in my imagination. Libraries are the places where stories have caretakers who share their gifts with anyone who seeks them.<br />
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Libraries are repositories of the ideas that, once written, no amount of censorship, or book-burning, or budget cuts will ever take away. Ideas burrow into our minds, and weave their ways into our hearts where they sprout and grow big enough to catch the light and shimmer in the sun. When our stories contain hope, they give hope, when our heroines are strong and our battles are just, they inspire strength and a desire for justice. When children read fairy tales, they learn they can vanquish dragons, and just believing something is possible is the first step to making it so.<br />
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My husband and I are very privileged to be able to attend the USC Scripter Awards this weekend. It's my favorite awards event of the season, and not just because it's the ultimate date night in black tie and an evening gown. The Scripter Awards are about stories and storytellers - and the awards honor the screen and television writers as well as the authors of the original source material. But even more than that (and that's pretty much the pinnacle as far as this author is concerned), the Scripters is an event to fund-raise for the USC Libraries.<br />
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These times are as uncertain as they are interesting, and common wisdom holds that savers will fare better than borrowers when uncertainty strikes. But what if the savers are the ones who protect the information from the ones who would borrow against our future? Who knew that the next romantic hero could be a rogue park ranger who refused to be censored? Or that the artwork of a resistance could be so powerful? The writers and the thinkers, the artists and the scientists - they make the work that fills our libraries. But libraries aren't bunkers for books. They're living, breathing, transforming spaces that require infusions of new ideas and technologies to progress and evolve.<br />
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My eighth-grader and I took a tour of his prospective high school campus the other day, and even more striking than the new pool, the robotics and STEM wing, and the art gallery, was the library. It was literally the heart of the campus - the center around which all other wings radiated. Everything was circular, and in the middle was a space for students to gather and share ideas, to work on projects, to research and discuss and learn. It was a place to read, but much more than that, in the best tradition of all libraries everywhere, it was a place to seek and discover oneself among the pages.<br />
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Einstein once said, "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Go to the library. <i>Give</i> to the library. Find your fairy tales there, and let them inspire you to reach beyond the dragons of fear and uncertainty. Because not only do fairy tales teach us about those dragons, but they tell us how to beat them.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-80042250752801704082016-11-20T08:04:00.000-08:002016-11-20T08:04:00.414-08:00Worldbuilders AuctionIt's Worldbuilders time again.<br />
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Between the edit of Cheating Death and the aftermath of the election, I've had my head down for a couple of weeks. That's how I missed the fact that the Worldbuilders auction for my Tuckerization went live.<br />
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Here is a fun fact you may not have known. The character of Tam, the mixed-blood captive and green-haired "Leprechaun" that Ava can See in her mind, who was trapped in the tunnel with Archer after the explosion in the ghost station in <i>Waging War</i> - you remember the guy? He was the result of a Worldbuilders Tuckerization auction. The winner of the auction gave me his name, and a couple of characteristics, and then Tam took on a life of his own.</div>
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There's also a Tuckerization character in Cheating Death from last year's auction, and he was A LOT of fun to create. Here's a hint - he's a Clocker/Monger mix, and boy, is he in trouble.</div>
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This year, I'm out of Immortal Descendant books to write. Wait, what? Yeah, really. Five books, that's it. There may be some short stories and novellas to play around with from their world, but the series arc is done at five. So, this year's Tuckerization auction is for a character in my new series. It spins off of this one, so there will be some familiar faces, and if you click on <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/April-White-will-include-a-name-trait-of-your-choice-in-her-next-book-/172411293327?hash=item2824838e8f:g:W2oAAOSwHMJYLM9X" target="_blank">the auction link</a>, you can read the description. WARNING - the description does contain a couple of small spoilers about some characters in Cheating Death, so if you don't want to know, don't read the description.</div>
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But bid on the auction even if you don't read the description. Here is the pertinent text:</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff9ef; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">The winning bidder of this Tuckerization auction will have the honor of naming a character (and providing an identifying characteristic or two) in book one of the new series. In the event the winning bid is higher than $250, that character will have a significant interaction with the main character. If it goes higher than $400, that character will become a major contributor to the story.</span></div>
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So, that's the fun stuff (and believe me, it's fun knowing there's a character in a book that you had a hand in creating). Here's the real stuff. Giving to Worldbuilders is one of the <i>right</i> things to do.</div>
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We have a lot of choices in life. Every day is full of choices - little ones, big ones, choices for yourself, or your family. Getting out of bed when you'd rather be reading, going to work or school when you'd rather be sleeping - those are right choices. Bullying or belittling someone - not so much. It's a choice to spread gossip, or speak badly about someone else, just like it's a choice to sit next to a lonely person and strike up a conversation. Our choices affect us and sometimes they even define us. </div>
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I teach my kinds that the best part about Christmas is finding the perfect gift to give someone else, and as they've gotten older, they're taking that part of the Holidays really seriously. For the people Worldbuilders helps, the perfect gift is clean water, or a goat, or a flock of chickens, and every year my kids decide what we're going to give with our donations. </div>
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I believe that what Worldbuilders does is <i>right</i> - it's why I give signed books to their lottery every year, and why I do Tuckerizations. But naming a character in one of my books is only valuable to my readers - which means bidding on this item and raising this money for Worldbuilders will only be done by you.</div>
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No pressure.</div>
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Just hopefulness.</div>
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Please consider bidding on <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/April-White-will-include-a-name-trait-of-your-choice-in-her-next-book-/172411293327?hash=item2824838e8f:g:W2oAAOSwHMJYLM9X" target="_blank">my auction</a>, and poking around the <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/worldbuilders/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=" target="_blank">Worldbuilders auction list</a> (there's great stuff on it), and even if you don't buy anything, consider donating directly to Worldbuilders through<a href="https://worldbuilders.org/" target="_blank"> their website</a>. Each $10 you donate gets matched, and it gets your name entered into the lottery one time. I've been donating to Worldbuilders for four years, and I've won lottery things twice. The odds are definitely in your favor - just look at this one section of the donations wall...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtwo-o_2bTRqS60ZI_klwBj6WI2zEqFxwAux9kY0iwakBWowgi9lzjzoqreZmzDCzwcruBTGkeauWirBupZoa1PZ9XOsI9izdxl5NZPc2NO4Uol2MAJR9u9SEvyI4qUoVNXXlKi3w02NK/s1600/donationswall3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtwo-o_2bTRqS60ZI_klwBj6WI2zEqFxwAux9kY0iwakBWowgi9lzjzoqreZmzDCzwcruBTGkeauWirBupZoa1PZ9XOsI9izdxl5NZPc2NO4Uol2MAJR9u9SEvyI4qUoVNXXlKi3w02NK/s320/donationswall3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So, that's my annual pitch. Thanks for reading, thanks for considering, thanks for clicking links and poking around the Worldbuilders stuff, and above all, thanks for being awesome.</div>
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<br />April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-11285666345094438602016-08-31T12:50:00.000-07:002016-11-19T10:06:56.387-08:00Building an author website<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMtGlDBnLB0_agyh3pHmr2hgW7SohyZhzzkSCpnonx-BTdzDTqzNx1f7yrEr67LxhrmNq8D3jxT8zaP61VEgWIN-f6XelXZyze6Vt0MmZPxjeMUgZr8WRrBgnXGoBKhOqrsDH-8kO-JxH/s1600/website.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMtGlDBnLB0_agyh3pHmr2hgW7SohyZhzzkSCpnonx-BTdzDTqzNx1f7yrEr67LxhrmNq8D3jxT8zaP61VEgWIN-f6XelXZyze6Vt0MmZPxjeMUgZr8WRrBgnXGoBKhOqrsDH-8kO-JxH/s400/website.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Being an independent author is not only writing books I hope will appeal to my readers. I'm actually running a business. There's marketing and promotions, strategy and speculation, market analysis, and a whole lot of seat-of-my-trousers guessing. (I spent a summer among Brits. I struggle to say "pants" now without thinking of underwear.) I have also discovered a huge network of authors/business-owners who are incredibly generous with information-sharing and very helpful advice, some of which I've been acting on for the past couple of days.</div>
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I've been doing a little author housekeeping, if you will, and the following post is probably only useful to other authors and maybe a couple of small-business owners. Fair warning.</div>
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I signed up for the Amazon Affiliates program back in February. I got the cool little stripe on top of every Amazon page that I visit, and I immediately changed all by book links on my blogspot pages to Affiliate links. (For anyone who doesn't know about Amazon Affiliates, any products someone buys through an affiliate link registered to me nets me fractions of a cent. Some people actually make enough to cover their whole advertising budget from the affiliates program, which is awesome. I am very selective about what I recommend, so I don't really generate a lot of affiliate income). Recently I actually read the Affiliates rules and realized that I can only use those links from active websites, as opposed to static pages, which means I can't send affiliate links in an e-mail, or attach them to the back-matter of any of my kindle books, primarily because Amazon can't track where they came from. It does make me wonder how BookBub can do their affiliate links from their daily e-mail, but I digress.</div>
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Because it makes sense to use affiliate links to my own books in the back matter of my kindle books, I needed a way to do that which didn't break the affiliates program rules. My solution is to send potential book-buyers through my website to Amazon. It adds an extra click to their purchase efforts, and certainly might turn people off, but I'll take that risk. So, it seemed like a good time to build a proper website instead of the blogspot pages I've been using. There are several website builders on the market, some easier and better than others, but researching that can suck up days of writing time, so I picked a convenient one, roped a friend of mine in to help me set up content, and started building.</div>
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My goal with a website was to build something decent and professional-looking, with a "books" page that has affiliate links to Amazon, and a newsletter sign-up page to which I could entice readers. New readers don't usually troll the internet looking for author's websites, so I'm not going to attract them. But readers who find me on Amazon (where my books have the most reviews) or after a book promotion are only going to want to know more when they've read the first book. So those are the people I'm trying to target with my website.</div>
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Knowing my target audience is vital to building a useful website. They've already read at least one book, and have liked it enough to want to know more. That means I can direct people to different landing pages within the website, according to their interests. For people who want the next book in the series, I linked the "books" page to several places in the back matter of Immortal Descendants book. For people who've reached the end of book four and want news about the release date for book five, get in line. No, sorry, that was rude - I linked my newsletter sign-up page at the end of a new book five teaser that I just added to Waging War.</div>
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Newsletter sign ups are vital to authors. Those are readers who already know they want more, which makes them a target market. It's vital to keep them intrigued with just enough information to make them pay attention but not oversaturated to the point that they don't open your newsletters when they land in their inbox. Newsletters are the best place to put new release information, and a way to reward newsletter recipients with exclusive clips of new works. I say this all in theory, mind you, because as of now I've sent out exactly two newsletters. I do finally have a template, and I have grand plans for being organized enough to get serious about once-a-month newsletters, but as of now, I still feel too guilty every minute I'm not writing Cheating Death (this is me, writhing in guilt at the moment. I'll make it up to myself with an earlier morning tomorrow).</div>
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This has turned into a very long post about a thing that could probably be summarized thus:</div>
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Become an Amazon Affiliate.</div>
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Build a website.</div>
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Put pictures of your book covers on it.</div>
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Attach affiliate links to your books.</div>
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Add a newsletter sign-up (I use Mailchimp, which requires form-building and HTML code insertion, and is much easier and less painful than it sounds).</div>
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Add other things to entice, educate, and entertain visitors (sounds like a Paris salon)</div>
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Dress it up in a pretty design (I'm still working on that)</div>
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Add hyperlinks to the newsletter sign-up and your books page to the back-matter of your books.</div>
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Optional: blog about it. Post links to the new website on all your social media groups. Actually send an entertaining, enticing, and educational newsletter to the people who signed up. </div>
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Required: Then get back to the business of writing.</div>
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Oh, and if you've made it this far without your eyeballs rolling back in your head, and you actually want to see what I've been working on, here's the new site. <a href="http://www.aprilwhitebooks.com/">www.aprilwhitebooks.com</a>.<br />
It's subject to change without notice as I figure out more ways to use it.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-85572280454202453302016-07-28T09:23:00.000-07:002016-08-30T15:48:08.247-07:00A Month in the Yukon<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyO2CXlQ0UbCojs15sF86eczKxOzvU57vvTrPO__7Y6PCjx8qWdAPC_LaUkeOuuIUg7S2Q5Qz5meEJ-dJQhSjROVXdfA4jdBX02vgG5CvV3699DdjFdrZJ1_HqZK7A7Rqr_Sd6m9D9J8Z6/s1600/Yukon2016Dawsonpink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyO2CXlQ0UbCojs15sF86eczKxOzvU57vvTrPO__7Y6PCjx8qWdAPC_LaUkeOuuIUg7S2Q5Qz5meEJ-dJQhSjROVXdfA4jdBX02vgG5CvV3699DdjFdrZJ1_HqZK7A7Rqr_Sd6m9D9J8Z6/s320/Yukon2016Dawsonpink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I’ve been in Canada for a month – specifically, the Yukon
Territory – even more specifically, my family and I have been dividing our time
between the town of Dawson City and a mining camp two hours on dirt roads away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglo_9WQkQO3WIXs7HpzF_74A30FbTde5C0Lx-MvvLMpXaQzk0CPUgG2KAFRO2G27Ua9OWixrgGaDv4yBaSHjXdSPGdzub2c-QJ9nxqRp-pEy52rZJNk0ez9y9a6_dPHpIMdB52hALpAdKR/s1600/Yukon2016Hunkersummit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglo_9WQkQO3WIXs7HpzF_74A30FbTde5C0Lx-MvvLMpXaQzk0CPUgG2KAFRO2G27Ua9OWixrgGaDv4yBaSHjXdSPGdzub2c-QJ9nxqRp-pEy52rZJNk0ez9y9a6_dPHpIMdB52hALpAdKR/s320/Yukon2016Hunkersummit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It’s been a good month, even great sometimes. The best
moments have generally involved good friends, campfires, fascinating
conversations, coffee-in-bed mornings, long walks, and the ever-amazing,
always-changing Yukon skies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCI66J8vjIWeop6RIBQLMfGo52PuE8bSwjyn-Bta5FqmAi9RB6tIide6LgeyF2OpsULsK_mdQjX1kW_01WiGzKmlFSMLtcU1PdyQ_GNgAAsEcYwFXBhPqDR3hFB7KoIqR1uVkdccScg-wi/s1600/Yukon2016FireRainbow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCI66J8vjIWeop6RIBQLMfGo52PuE8bSwjyn-Bta5FqmAi9RB6tIide6LgeyF2OpsULsK_mdQjX1kW_01WiGzKmlFSMLtcU1PdyQ_GNgAAsEcYwFXBhPqDR3hFB7KoIqR1uVkdccScg-wi/s320/Yukon2016FireRainbow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Every photo I’ve taken this month has featured the sky. It
is unavoidable and magnificent, and is in a state of constant change. When we
arrived at the end of June, there were about two hours of dimness between 2-4am. Now, at the end of July, it’s almost dark by midnight,
and in a couple of weeks, the Northern Lights might even be visible.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4uB7gopr6imf97Ih0JEDPsoOt6ShAEKmbOJpxgf28U_bNaHYY4hdXH0aUP7tvORRGdxuxTsBrFk-SMdltxuaz4FFYKPHrzAg_Hu_dz_uCyDGnFZeYA06LOVbJG4sJVxMIoyUSIjEKe6P/s1600/Yukon2016Campview.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4uB7gopr6imf97Ih0JEDPsoOt6ShAEKmbOJpxgf28U_bNaHYY4hdXH0aUP7tvORRGdxuxTsBrFk-SMdltxuaz4FFYKPHrzAg_Hu_dz_uCyDGnFZeYA06LOVbJG4sJVxMIoyUSIjEKe6P/s320/Yukon2016Campview.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We’ll be gone then. Gone back to the land of Pokemon Go,
which, in this country where our cell phones don’t work, has been fabulously
impossible. Gone back to the world of effortless internet, where streaming political
speeches compete with streaming YouTube videos for airtime in our house. Gone
away from moose sightings at the pond, daily rainstorms, unguarded cook shack
conversations about politics with like-minded Canadians and British, long walks
with bear-spray in hand, the ever-present noise of a generator just down the
hill from the four-wall tent we call home, and from the Yukon sky.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPHJSVMcwKOGSPpxQAxw8Siy91EGsVIRcI8j95rky84vG9q5pw-3hNZabPYwLsvoO38uxhofJEed0oi8thv2tCPCzu8WSAo2BObMOzI0StiN4SVKM0L3VSRBajhRg2su-WSaDlkPT_s7I/s1600/Yukon2016walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPHJSVMcwKOGSPpxQAxw8Siy91EGsVIRcI8j95rky84vG9q5pw-3hNZabPYwLsvoO38uxhofJEed0oi8thv2tCPCzu8WSAo2BObMOzI0StiN4SVKM0L3VSRBajhRg2su-WSaDlkPT_s7I/s320/Yukon2016walk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I carry my cell phone in my back pocket even on walks from
the tent to the toilets because of that sky. My husband despairs of my
paparazzi-like phone-whip - out of the pocket, held up vertically because it’s
always on “square,” and <i>click. Done.</i>
He’s a proper photographer, with the right camera and a great eye. I’m a
photographer who knows how to crop, and I delight in the “drama” feature of Snapseed
to add a little silver gelatin look to that sky.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXHTvYZOZgc45JxDzFnZ6iDGgbB9qIwe56cams3mgxDjXZIdIaudgBsFa56mlxoCd1vBB8CGfmhlEKtKPpIBwpMwdNHsL-4i0UCeRPuwaED8bjYUZD4F92qizrUAtd8H3QBEqM4lZbgmr/s1600/Yukon2016Campfourwalls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXHTvYZOZgc45JxDzFnZ6iDGgbB9qIwe56cams3mgxDjXZIdIaudgBsFa56mlxoCd1vBB8CGfmhlEKtKPpIBwpMwdNHsL-4i0UCeRPuwaED8bjYUZD4F92qizrUAtd8H3QBEqM4lZbgmr/s320/Yukon2016Campfourwalls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Because it’s truly all about the sky in the Yukon.</div>
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The mountains here are old and the trees are young. Gold
mining scars the landscape for a year or two before spruce and birch trees
reclaim the topsoil, and settling ponds become new habitats for beaver, ducks,
and the occasional moose. Annual lightning-strike fires turn hillsides into
fields of blackened twigs through which bear sometimes wander, and fireweed
splashes the landscape with glorious hot pink flowers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMMPlEs8WWB9hliQSM63dWOKTbNmAhRovwDxbsjcvLoVbQ3T8nRl4ssyoE0lUhrq9pW0jdX5nsnootQn4kbMsKtY_mp8i7Ho-TFJZI9EGkEJH8BHrS7UqSiAcA0LdGYfqvyEHzXDOy_e0/s1600/Yukon2016DredgeBuckets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMMPlEs8WWB9hliQSM63dWOKTbNmAhRovwDxbsjcvLoVbQ3T8nRl4ssyoE0lUhrq9pW0jdX5nsnootQn4kbMsKtY_mp8i7Ho-TFJZI9EGkEJH8BHrS7UqSiAcA0LdGYfqvyEHzXDOy_e0/s320/Yukon2016DredgeBuckets.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The mountains here aren’t majestic like the ones in Alaska:
the bear are harder to spot, the eagles fly higher, and the ravens scavenge the
town of Dawson like ominous portends of the winter to come. Mammoths once lived
here, and their bones and tusks are unearthed by gold miners more often than by
archeologists. Whole, undamaged tusks are rare in this place where excavators
carve the permafrost, and bulldozers push the earth to reveal the gold-rich
bedrock below. Evidence of mining is everywhere, but in this land of midnight
sun and afternoon rain, life returns to the landscape in years rather than decades
to transform the earth, just like the cloud patterns alter the sky.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmgWMlDMi3MrX9Uxo2xzq4JPEWyXgVd_Knqk9j725Vz4Uxg16SemJmXIChA1iwhXuietc9WFwnA3Y-i91OSsUUtwp0idZ7swOOiyOXxsGeILW9g_jFGq4AoYd4e3FPPHI5XbKIlhORXVV/s1600/Yukon2016YukonRiver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmgWMlDMi3MrX9Uxo2xzq4JPEWyXgVd_Knqk9j725Vz4Uxg16SemJmXIChA1iwhXuietc9WFwnA3Y-i91OSsUUtwp0idZ7swOOiyOXxsGeILW9g_jFGq4AoYd4e3FPPHI5XbKIlhORXVV/s320/Yukon2016YukonRiver.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Our weekends have been spent in Dawson City, the tiny town
at the convergence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers, where 30,000 people once
lived in a swampy tent camp, fevered by gold. The highway that skirts the river
ends at a ferry boat where cars line up to cross the Yukon River eight at a time
to continue their journey to the Top of the World Highway on the other side.
All other streets in Dawson are made of dirt, and get slick with greasy mud
after heavy rains. There are some wooden sidewalks, but they must be rebuilt
every few years after minus forty degree winters freeze and shift the ground
beneath them.<br />
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<br />
Nothing feels permanent in this town where 3,000 people spend
summers lit by the midnight sun – where a music festival draws thousands of
visitors, an arts festival and a literary contest draw hundreds, and a photo
contest with the hashtag #ilovedawson highlights the beauty and fun of living
here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDVQBHmNhdh-USX4tZMIupX-mA9LZBqBBr31dtcqHlU9KXeT5lNWhcqoCHmos_s38bZTHT6rbxveB4WM4WSBaiAVaZ9xrMk96FINSkSVW8HocOw3egl44alWN7q5JjojfuMmCkVFwXoCb/s1600/Yukon2016MusicFest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDVQBHmNhdh-USX4tZMIupX-mA9LZBqBBr31dtcqHlU9KXeT5lNWhcqoCHmos_s38bZTHT6rbxveB4WM4WSBaiAVaZ9xrMk96FINSkSVW8HocOw3egl44alWN7q5JjojfuMmCkVFwXoCb/s320/Yukon2016MusicFest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Only 1,800 or so people remain after the first ice on the river to endure
dark and frozen winters. Survivalists like Caveman Bill in his cave, and the
residents of West Dawson in their off-grid houses are trapped on the other side
of the Yukon River for weeks each year until the ice is thick enough
traverse, while the Dawsonites can spend $3,000 a month in electricity, and keep block heaters in their engine compartments to withstand the brutal cold. It’s a place
where Winter Pretty is when twos turn into tens, Spring Break-up doesn’t always refer to the river ice, and some relationships
can be made or broken by available reading material or a taste in movies.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUs9mbzFk2ejIZ361CUV2FuckZ-SMtMy38i7gqd_N9Qt7eMvJT0Ua6o5Xoq9sf521djGa48mwx9Ao4rZ2Cc7em3Ui5gekubgr6PTcGHqIYLyRWXo5mraHIm9xvduK9AFGPf0KlJSsih4S/s1600/Yukon2016SlantyShack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUs9mbzFk2ejIZ361CUV2FuckZ-SMtMy38i7gqd_N9Qt7eMvJT0Ua6o5Xoq9sf521djGa48mwx9Ao4rZ2Cc7em3Ui5gekubgr6PTcGHqIYLyRWXo5mraHIm9xvduK9AFGPf0KlJSsih4S/s320/Yukon2016SlantyShack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In our Dawson City, Saturday dinner is at the Drunken Goat
with calamari, lamb, and a Greek Salad, and Sunday is spent eating schnitzel at
the Aurora. A person can easily be found by their drinking habits, and the
midnight show at Gerties is almost always a sure bet. There are nearly as many
gold shops as there are restaurants, but the best finds are always at the
thrift store.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2rm81pzEf2vUGF2JDEEzBSW4cXGmOp1L-g53FWbLAn8m80qjbcfDLL0HKTPkf1ih80psaqqR3gsR_9JqT9U0Rdk15eCs7ZOKAOwRu_3zyvnkcN12lkUt2Nu357hOJYWPMIcaro4czr8n/s1600/Yukon2016townpink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2rm81pzEf2vUGF2JDEEzBSW4cXGmOp1L-g53FWbLAn8m80qjbcfDLL0HKTPkf1ih80psaqqR3gsR_9JqT9U0Rdk15eCs7ZOKAOwRu_3zyvnkcN12lkUt2Nu357hOJYWPMIcaro4czr8n/s320/Yukon2016townpink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The summer farmer’s market by the river yields stunning
vegetables every Saturday, while the produce in the grocery stores can be
anemic and limp by the time it makes the journey this far north. Cheechako’s
Bake Shop makes amazing slow-cooked pork and onion jam sandwiches, and their
chocolate brownie has crack in the recipe, I’m sure of it.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeZi2vJNoxL0ftzutHqBu4ICr_o-BoID0umMb0PZ86JP1XcTQNyZ7LyuV-vtkQPR_mg86c4KwoCd-curFiU8cXoEcsHFZW-rxRfkwRrjEjv5piDTRrf019oTNt2xi0Gp7Dgzyqvf4IcKq/s1600/Yukon2016MusicRiver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeZi2vJNoxL0ftzutHqBu4ICr_o-BoID0umMb0PZ86JP1XcTQNyZ7LyuV-vtkQPR_mg86c4KwoCd-curFiU8cXoEcsHFZW-rxRfkwRrjEjv5piDTRrf019oTNt2xi0Gp7Dgzyqvf4IcKq/s320/Yukon2016MusicRiver.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There is a play structure in Dawson City that my boys have
dubbed <i>The Portal.</i> In their perfect
world, the tire tunnel between the second and third floors is
really a teleportation device, and would allow us regular Sunday roasts with Ed
when he works in the Yukon. We could also invite their friends to come to the
Moosehide Festival with us, and to help us invent new hiding places for the
Parks Canada geocaches that are tucked into historical landmarks around town.
It takes us two days and three flights to travel here from Los Angeles, but if
the portal worked, we could bring our dog, Natasha, to play with Rio and Finley
in camp.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have written here – a short story for the Authors on
Eighth contest, some pitches for programming at NerdCon: Stories, and some work
on Cheating Death. I told the story of the Yukon legend, Joe Boyle, to his
gravedigger, through the eyes of the people who mourned him, and spent a week
digging for quotes of his lover’s letters. I pitched a panel called “Writing Geek
Girls in a Genre Rife with Mary Sue Stereotypes,” and spent a day researching
Mary Sues. I’ve re-read my notebooks for Cheating Death, edited the parts I
have notes for, and I’ve given myself permission to just recharge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s what this trip has been: a chance to recharge myself,
my family, and my creativity.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
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There’s inspiration here, and a person seeking creativity
can find it in the stories, the scenery, the history, the wildlife, and the
people who make art.<br />
<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The sky is the limit in the Yukon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And have you seen that sky?<o:p></o:p><br />
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April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-26431898311090088832016-05-24T05:43:00.002-07:002016-08-30T10:58:50.653-07:00Update to the Tearjerkers list - A Man Called OveIt happens sometimes that your heart fills so full that it spills down your face and steals your breath and sounds like sobs. And sometimes tears fill your throat and prickle your nose as you lie in the dark long after the story is done. And the tears are made of joy and hope and love and family, and they leave you feeling full instead of empty - that happens sometimes too.<br />
<br />
It happened this time.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00GEEB730&asins=B00GEEB730&linkId=ba2ca07fcc63790fddf516fab99f65d6&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-77744944991257318092016-05-19T13:14:00.003-07:002016-05-19T13:30:24.990-07:00Book Recommendations - Tearjerkers and RomanceI was at an author's conference recently where a very high-powered film producer said, during a conversation about a book-pitch, "never, ever call a book a romance." Every timeless story has romantic elements, he said, but if you call a story a romance, even a story in which the central theme is the relationship between two people in love, you will effectively kill all its credibility.<br />
<br />
Kill all its credibility. Huh.<br />
<br />
(Insert rant here. It will be the subject of another post.)<br />
<br />
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<br />
My book club read <i>Me Before You</i> this month. Now, to be perfectly fair to the book itself, I did read it in a day, I did shed a tear, and it was written well. My primary criticism of the book itself was that I didn't particularly like either of the two main characters (or anyone else in it for that matter) and didn't really care enough about them to heavily invest my emotions in their story. That's a personal opinion and feel free to yell about how much you loved the book. It won't affect my belief in you and your worth, just as I hope my opinion doesn't affect your thoughts about my worth.<br />
<br />
I had a big-picture issue with the book too, though - and it became the topic of a book club conversation about tearjerkers in general, and romance in particular. My issue was with this book's marketing. The publisher of<i> Me Before You</i>, The Penguin Group (who, incidentally, decided it was okay to charge $9.99 for the kindle version when the paperback is $6.40 on Amazon - don't get me started), made a deliberate choice to market the book primarily as women's fiction rather than romance.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Me-Before-You-Jojo-Moyes/dp/0670026603/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1463689580&ref_=tmm_hrd_swatch_0&sr=8-1&linkCode=li2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=f54134c497506bbb383aca21fc177bff" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0670026603&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=li2&o=1&a=0670026603" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<i>Me Before You</i> has all the classic hallmarks of a romance - a central relationship between a man and a woman, the growth of their attraction to each other (complete with sexual tension - you can't tell me the shave and haircut scene wasn't FULL of it), that thing that drives them apart, and ultimately, the reconciliation that brings closure to the relationship upon which the plot was built. Now, the publishers may be tricky, listing the book in women's fiction, but they're not stupid. Romance readers are some of the most voracious readers in the book-buying world. More romance authors are making six-figure incomes than any other genre, and the market is positively flooded with romance novels (good, bad, mediocre, sexy, funny, flirty, dark, thrilling, mysterious, sweet, paranormal, western, military, historical - name a genre and it's a romance sub-genre), primarily because readers are hungry for them.<br />
<br />
This is what the Amazon rankings of <i>Me Before You </i>look like today (which, by the way, are very impressive):<br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 19px;">Amazon Best Sellers Rank:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> #2 Paid in Kindle Store (</span><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/ref=pd_dp_ts_kstore_1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;">See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">)</span><br />
<span class="zg_hrsr_rank" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: right; width: 80px;">#1</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="zg_hrsr_ladder" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Kindle Store</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/154606011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_2" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Kindle eBooks</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/157028011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Literature & Fiction</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/157052011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Contemporary Fiction</a> > <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/7588751011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_2_5_last" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Women's Fiction</a></span></span><br />
<span class="zg_hrsr_rank" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: right; width: 80px;">#1</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="zg_hrsr_ladder" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_3_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Books</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/17/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_3_2" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Literature & Fiction</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/542654/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_3_3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Women's Fiction</a> > <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/542656/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_3_4_last" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Domestic Life</a></span></span><br />
<span class="zg_hrsr_rank" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: right; width: 80px;">#1</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="zg_hrsr_ladder" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">in <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Books</a> > <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/23/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_2" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Romance</a> > <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/13354/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_3_last" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;">Contemporary</a></span></span><br />
<br />
See - not stupid. By listing <i>Me Before You</i> as a Romance, Contemporary, it does make it onto the romance lists and in front of all those hungry romance readers. But Contemporary Fiction and Women's Fiction also put it on lists for people who "don't read romance," because... (fill in the blank. Usually something to do with the assumption of poor writing or the stigma still attached to romance as a genre). There were women in my book club last night who declared, "Oh, I don't read romance," - except they read and enjoyed <i>Me Before You</i>, which isn't packaged (the cover) or marketed as a romance (except to romance readers). I'm clear it's brilliance on the part of the publisher, and I certainly give them credit for bringing the book to the widest possible audience. But as long as the prejudice against romance exits, as long as romance in the pitch kills a book's (or reader's or author's) credibility, I'm going to have a problem with the subterfuge.<br />
<br />
Okay, rant over. For now.<br />
I promised the wonderful women of my book club a list of <i>my </i>recommendations in both the romance and tearjerker categories, so here they are, complete with links to Amazon and the current price for a kindle book.<br />
<br />
In the Tearjerkers category (some are romance, some are war stories, all made me ugly-cry, and all got five-star reviews from me on Goodreads):<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00JO8PEN2&asins=B00JO8PEN2&linkId=4e0c14aaf28cf72b9d2cddb50999bb09&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00L2H6CSO&asins=B00L2H6CSO&linkId=969f3cb000f87e6c703d8fd44bb6847a&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B005ZOBNOI&asins=B005ZOBNOI&linkId=575dd1284cfcd5a53e7e9ba41bdc05b0&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00F0XL3B2&asins=B00F0XL3B2&linkId=cc6062c63318425ce521605b3c8c7951&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0020BUWX2&asins=B0020BUWX2&linkId=d0d7dde3090188dd0d344e00ab41206c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00BOTU4Q6&asins=B00BOTU4Q6&linkId=077611c159934e40e3cf02fa1edeef18&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B000XUBFE2&asins=B000XUBFE2&linkId=9036f2987838fafd42bc84ac561bd764&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00MRQJ5M4&asins=B00MRQJ5M4&linkId=0956e20470098b591c7e9d148f690111&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
And these are some of my favorite romance novels (comedy, paranormal, time-travel, fantasy, young adult, historical):<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B000FC2L1O&asins=B000FC2L1O&linkId=a7ac69961b6ca2ce73233a7ce6e18f78&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00BUWA58E&asins=B00BUWA58E&linkId=041ac2b333f46cb95edda5a3beaf699a&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B005VTVE0U&asins=B005VTVE0U&linkId=1cdfd267649b3be601ef76c1f44edd61&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0044781TW&asins=B0044781TW&linkId=102441911adc6e8dc795618b2e1667ba&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B000OCXHRW&asins=B000OCXHRW&linkId=bfce662fcef29d259b9bf5e6ddcac546&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00CACT6TM&asins=B00CACT6TM&linkId=2cfe58da29bd079278f3d9ced7cc7872&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0023EF9H0&asins=B0023EF9H0&linkId=cd07c17809c8e0ae54e74f16c90c7ec2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B009R44MQ8&asins=B009R44MQ8&linkId=3722baa7ab9b4b88ccbd7bd75af69a03&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B009ADZXY6&asins=B009ADZXY6&linkId=880249331c13d0ca1cda7ba13206674b&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B008SAZHLQ&asins=B008SAZHLQ&linkId=46068d7a1a12d2ee489da7c67df09516&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00A9V253A&asins=B00A9V253A&linkId=9fb1d34e0b763dde265060acca3a340f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=aprwhiboo-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B009ZC6666&asins=B009ZC6666&linkId=08c0efe9dd68cd953b2ab2fc059f49e9&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
<br />
So, that's it for today - a book review, a mini-rant, and some recommendations.<br />
I hope you stumble upon a genre you "don't read," and suddenly discover that when the story is great and the characters are interesting, you do.April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-62443850864447386232016-04-17T10:13:00.003-07:002016-04-17T10:23:24.085-07:00Show me, don't tell me. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7G2Q1DNkW05XGlvcMdduTde9W52VWSIsRwRKkk9K47ZvkHVxIebsEQa93PUdmoKIeZKwrNZW3O76d4XAkvOsICjg4A9O2jsckjrl7MxI76IAqsHS_F97JiZ8eoFTVvnmnXtd83hnzt1R/s1600/ca3107bc07127f90251ea5ab6ad16cd3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7G2Q1DNkW05XGlvcMdduTde9W52VWSIsRwRKkk9K47ZvkHVxIebsEQa93PUdmoKIeZKwrNZW3O76d4XAkvOsICjg4A9O2jsckjrl7MxI76IAqsHS_F97JiZ8eoFTVvnmnXtd83hnzt1R/s1600/ca3107bc07127f90251ea5ab6ad16cd3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't own this picture, but there's a whole story written in those shoes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I was an English major in college, but I actually suck at punctuation. My editor has taught me more about the rules for punctuation than any teacher in sixteen years of education ever did.<br />
<br />
Screenwriting taught me how to pare things down to their most visual elements, and to write action scenes with active words. There's a set up to every scene, just so we know who's there and what they're doing, but the story is told through the dialogue between characters. Time spent a character's head does NOT translate into something visible on screen.<br />
<br />
In my books, its my job to paint the visual picture with words. I need to show readers what my characters see and do with active words that allow the reader to be there with them, and then whenever possible, let interactions with other characters give voice to the narrator's observations. For example, in an early (unedited) scene from Cheating Death:<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I was coated in a thick layer of brick dust, but I’d
forgotten about the blood until someone shone a flashlight into my face and
screamed, “He’s hurt!”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Revelations about the world around my characters are also best done through direct interaction with their environment. And even better when they can unfold bit by bit. It allows the reader to experience the truth alongside the character:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“I’m fine,” I tried to croak, but the dust choked my voice.
Another good Samaritan joined the first and tried to hand me water. I pushed it
away, and I was vaguely aware of someone holding their mobile phone up as a
torch.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>This wasn’t 1944.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I try to describe a character to the reader fairly early in their intro, but it can be tricky, especially in a first-person narrative. Honest self-assessments can become lawn furniture (the kind that clutters a yard and gets stumbled over) unless they're blended with something appropriate to the action:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I realized I was in London, <i>my</i> London, where mobile phones recorded images of people who
shouldn’t be here, and a bloody, dust-covered, dark-skinned young man garnered
too much attention on a pre-dawn city street.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>My chest heaved with barely suppressed panic as I tucked
myself around a corner, out of sight of the well-meaning Londoners. What had
they seen? I looked down at myself, barely visible in the still black sky of
early morning. I was filthy and covered in blood, but my clothes weren’t
obviously anachronistic in this age of vintage-is-cool, and outwardly, I
probably still looked like the eighteen-year-old guy I physically was. I felt
my chest, my torso, and my face where I’d been slammed against a wall in the
blast. I was battered, but I’d heal after a day’s sleep.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>My body would heal anyway.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I doubted the same could be said for anything else.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A challenge in series-writing is to remind the reader about a character's backstory without a full recap. Again, it's tricky in first-person narrative to give historical information that doesn't sound like an info-dump, so I try to tie it to an action or emotion whenever possible:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Tom?”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I stiffened and my fingers curled reflexively into weapons. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Tom, it’s Ava.”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Ava. Her voice was a sound from a time when love and
laughter had blended with the ever-present pain, and happiness had given it
texture and light. It was a time before I knew what true pain was, a time
before inky blackness had replaced happiness, and hope had fled in tears. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Ava’s voice was quiet and hesitant … and coming closer. She
was in the alley with me. I felt panic rise up again like a vise that squeezed
my throat until my heart threatened to pound its way out of my chest. And then
I remembered who I was and what I’d done. I wasn’t her poor little cousin, Tom,
with an emotionally abusive father, and a mother who hated the sight of me
because I reminded her of <i>him</i> and
what <i>he</i> had done to her. I wasn’t
anything weak or frail or good or right. There was nothing to care about and
everything to fear in me. My heart was a dead thing that merely pumped blood
through my veins. In fact, I thought dispassionately, I could kill my cousin
now and then disappear as if I’d never been here at all. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More backstory reminders are wrapped around dialogue with another character, with more character reveal about Tom's state of mind:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>She stopped moving. Maybe she heard my thoughts. I took a
step forward. “Ava?” My voice was definitely not my own, and I decided to use
the croaking to sound helpless. “Is that really you?”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>I sensed her hesitation in the dark. I looked for her, but
couldn’t see her outline – she was still too far away. I took another step
forward. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Adam was in the tunnels when the bomb exploded. I can’t See
him.” There was a soft desperation in Ava’s voice and I froze in place. “I can’t
See anyone underground – not Archer, not Tam, not … my twin.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Her twin. My cousin and best friend, Adam. I couldn't let him see me. He would know in an instant who I was - what I'd become, and he would hate me too. I should wrap my hands around Ava's throat and squeeze until she broke, and then I should find a spiral and just ... go.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I try to eliminate as many passive verbs (ending in "ing") as I can. I'd rather have short, simple, active sentences - they keep the tension higher. For example, "I sensed her hesitation in the dark. I looked for her, but couldn't see her outline..." If I'd written, "Sensing her hesitation in the dark, I looked for her..." Tom would sound too self-aware, and not in the moment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another word I've tried to eliminate almost completely is "Suddenly." It's one of those words I tell people to search, and then remove 90%. "Very" is another one, and adjectives ending in "ly" should only be used as truly necessary. If a word can be made active, or removed entirely without changing the meaning of the sentence, do it. It propels the reader along with the action, and makes the scene feel immediate, rather than something that's been reflected upon by the narrator.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm certainly not a writing expert by any stretch of the imagination. I am, however, an inhaler of books. When I delve into a world that an author has created, I want to be drawn into the action and carried alongside the characters as their story unfolds. I want to be <i>shown</i> the world, the people who inhabit it, and the experiences they're having. Only then am I invested enough to feel the emotions the author intends the characters to feel. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tell me what happens and I'll listen, but show me what happens and I'll experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-49996407048679866232016-03-25T14:17:00.004-07:002016-04-07T13:15:00.198-07:00A Q&A about Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://fmtpextended.tumblr.com/post/141677612118/supernatural-introduction-interview-with-april" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQRwcIgixyJTqakQ8C62vVgJ60iTfW1aoebLTh_pWufrdpO72VLIJPoq4ZU1SKyuEwzoZR710JLdNLWMKXTHuWA-wB39fFeP9JirbKmEn2Qxn5MKCM2oL0dlEglztohyphenhyphenmZsupxJ9zVdQp/s320/Kindle+book.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
I was interviewed recently for a blog about writing and editing, and because the blogger, who is also an author, took so much time coming up with thoughtful questions, I spent a day writing my answers.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
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It's a good Q&A about the series, my writing habits, and writing in general, so I wanted to share it here for anyone who doesn't already follow me on Twitter or Facebook.</div>
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Thanks, Rachelle - this was a lot of fun!</div>
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<a href="http://fmtpextended.tumblr.com/post/141677612118/supernatural-introduction-interview-with-april" target="_blank">Click here or on the picture above to go to the Q&A.</a></div>
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April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-88366966273090943002016-03-05T15:38:00.002-08:002016-03-05T15:44:47.504-08:00Andy Weir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlFWC-oe7wAK9Qiw9KOgtOsfPhjMSoOi_6T_CJ5M3ElLUtT6OZ758PFQ1X21Jt-pfENSpT6zsiJGeaMgKrVVNihoYOJYoA46rlvDfq6MgCxRgROL7caK57CH9bqAp688KZhnURoADcaOPD/s1600/2Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlFWC-oe7wAK9Qiw9KOgtOsfPhjMSoOi_6T_CJ5M3ElLUtT6OZ758PFQ1X21Jt-pfENSpT6zsiJGeaMgKrVVNihoYOJYoA46rlvDfq6MgCxRgROL7caK57CH9bqAp688KZhnURoADcaOPD/s320/2Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">There is nothing better in the world (okay, maybe one or two things) than starting a book at 5am, getting hooked in three lines - yes, three lines - and then not even feeling a little bit guilty for reading until it's done.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Martian is that book. And I'm a fantasy reader, not science fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Seriously. Ender's Game is as close to sci fi as I get, but my friend, Roxi, who must love me very much, gave me The Martian for Christmas, and then I read Nathan Van Koop's fairly spectacular review, so I figured I could always go back to sleep if it didn't hook me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Yeah, that didn't happen.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This is not a funny book. The guy gets stranded on Mars - how is that funny? Except, Mark's voice (that's the guy) has exactly the wry snark I hear in my own head, and his irreverent comic timing is perfect while mine is about twenty minutes after the moment of perfection.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The crazy thing is, I didn't stop laughing, even when an entire planet of crap could go wrong - and did - with alarming frequency. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This book, with its perfect storm of nerd humor, scientific MacGyver brilliance, and sharp, dry, self-deprecating wit is truly one of the most excellent stories I've ever read.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">So, when I had the chance to take my family to hear Andy Weir speak, I jumped at it! My husband had listened to The Martian while driving on snowy mountain roads in the Yukon, and my older son had inhaled the book after hearing me laugh out loud for hours while I read. My younger son was along for the ride, but was as engaged as the rest of us were as Andy spoke.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMR9oZO1Ct6QhqSMyTBcYJT88rseAeMxUlOAE_e4DpYc_O3vrRky_V1INKgidJcSVjkJzl81pigOkU3kU_XOJsJHv0Kd5nSPbUJtQVv7uhd3CmR52mM2OjtM-ThqZ8wUvpOMPGvgSdgCVn/s1600/4Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMR9oZO1Ct6QhqSMyTBcYJT88rseAeMxUlOAE_e4DpYc_O3vrRky_V1INKgidJcSVjkJzl81pigOkU3kU_XOJsJHv0Kd5nSPbUJtQVv7uhd3CmR52mM2OjtM-ThqZ8wUvpOMPGvgSdgCVn/s320/4Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Andy Weir self-published The Martian, but 300-500 downloads a day got the notice of a literary agent who made a deal with a publisher in the same week the film rights were optioned.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The one unrealistic part of The Martian is the storm that starts it all. Andy knew that storm couldn't have happened like he wrote it, but because it's a story of Man vs. Nature, he used it anyway. Since then, he has learned that Mars <i>does</i> have lightening strikes, and would definitely have used a lightning storm to strand Mark Watney if he'd known about them then.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkXhBp1mO_hcdgJfddiDJXHrY2k71QgigovHBkHO1zGcNnTGRvcU6IWKaYgamdAEO73QZSIyDo5K7-2lynRYnT4PKLWD6x7vWFboioiiN6NxrZRf1O6r2CiQRDt3ekgbGYTI-Yf-5ZAu8/s1600/7Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkXhBp1mO_hcdgJfddiDJXHrY2k71QgigovHBkHO1zGcNnTGRvcU6IWKaYgamdAEO73QZSIyDo5K7-2lynRYnT4PKLWD6x7vWFboioiiN6NxrZRf1O6r2CiQRDt3ekgbGYTI-Yf-5ZAu8/s320/7Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Planet Venus has a thing called "standing lightning," and the atmosphere is 90 times more dense than Earth's. "Don't go to Venus," Andy said. "It's hell."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Andy Weir has absolutely no interest in going to space. Zero. None. He writes about brave people, he isn't necessarily one of them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Mark Watney is cooler and more resourceful than Andy is, because most authors "write main characters they either want to be, or want to have sex with." On a side note, the hero of Andy's next book, due out in early 2017, is a woman. Just saying.</span></span><br />
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My younger son did ask to borrow a notebook and a pencil while we waited, and doodled this masterpiece as Andy spoke.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5nEDt_QpuhqS6bXEuWBvvlmdb9XO_0TCpMhTEggrs5CzXkgbMjBjHClvubj8xLiEPZ1o7Y4Og93NRe3MhWdwlYF4LONhH2x1poCLiaCfJRt5PEV239R71DlDicv6tOwkEL8QS7XjHyGm/s1600/6Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5nEDt_QpuhqS6bXEuWBvvlmdb9XO_0TCpMhTEggrs5CzXkgbMjBjHClvubj8xLiEPZ1o7Y4Og93NRe3MhWdwlYF4LONhH2x1poCLiaCfJRt5PEV239R71DlDicv6tOwkEL8QS7XjHyGm/s320/6Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Which Andy very generously signed for him.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDF4Sdf_cEoAo98YOjHskH1P_Nz0Q5pnKQEtAET6Yryrx5Wd07kkz8XayPFjfDBnTGZgXev87RoyAJb_e9hDWVhSE8zR4_tSRjMFwyAh0z0dIQx2Xv_d4XewSbhnpvTEHOw2QK2bO5DJ5/s1600/9Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDF4Sdf_cEoAo98YOjHskH1P_Nz0Q5pnKQEtAET6Yryrx5Wd07kkz8XayPFjfDBnTGZgXev87RoyAJb_e9hDWVhSE8zR4_tSRjMFwyAh0z0dIQx2Xv_d4XewSbhnpvTEHOw2QK2bO5DJ5/s320/9Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Afterwards, Andy very generously stayed to sign books and talk to fans. As my son always remarks, I am far more likely to fangirl over authors whose books I love than over celebrities (unless they have odd names like Hiddleston or Cumberbatch), so this happened too.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxmJM3gqaQCb85jKeykL4ty3HTVJ1d8QIvIZbPkayA_aJ7oOY18g4ml0nEHbaZzFHQGYjDejmbdHoZI5XaavBohdq9-CKp8jdk6v5Zlnh0QRvclBug_FqAmcu8Ewionb9jqPS76wC28HN/s1600/8Martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxmJM3gqaQCb85jKeykL4ty3HTVJ1d8QIvIZbPkayA_aJ7oOY18g4ml0nEHbaZzFHQGYjDejmbdHoZI5XaavBohdq9-CKp8jdk6v5Zlnh0QRvclBug_FqAmcu8Ewionb9jqPS76wC28HN/s320/8Martian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It was a really excellent event, Andy Weir is a genuinely smart, funny, well-spoken guy, and I got to share my passion for a great book, written by a fascinating author, with my family.</span></span>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-70439586051259965242016-02-25T14:33:00.001-08:002016-11-19T10:07:28.113-08:00Cheating Death Inspiration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2sqvX1Nrh-kOzyoL4snaepQNZlT9ISlEj8GI4KxqOVdg6gZwJBp91t0IMl0BD-cXa_JrZNxqx1mI4Y5sz9WdYjxMWahZVfCU6q7T8BJMFLpKfLtveDSLCd1T4r9sZRcI64mk7o3eIwIu/s1600/notebook+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2sqvX1Nrh-kOzyoL4snaepQNZlT9ISlEj8GI4KxqOVdg6gZwJBp91t0IMl0BD-cXa_JrZNxqx1mI4Y5sz9WdYjxMWahZVfCU6q7T8BJMFLpKfLtveDSLCd1T4r9sZRcI64mk7o3eIwIu/s640/notebook+cover.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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Just so we're clear, I don't own ANY of these images - well, except for the cover model photos, which I have a license to use. But I finally finished my notebook cover for book five - Cheating Death - and it's my visual inspiration pin board for the story. </div>
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If anyone's interested, you can follow me on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/aprilwhitebooks/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> for more book-inspired images, or on Instagram (I'm AprilWhiteBooks) for life-inspired ones.</div>
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The enterprising among you might begin to glean a little of the adventures I'm planning for Saira, or you could just wait and be surprised, as I'm sure I will be along the way. The Cheating Death notebook is full of notes, mind you, and I'm already writing, but until now, it was a sad, plain black Moleskine. </div>
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Now it's fancy, and I can get back to work.</div>
<br />April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-90864565811590757982016-02-14T16:13:00.000-08:002016-02-14T16:44:55.136-08:00Books to Read After Harry Potter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBTRX83OplBV8BGRJxHK0FRc_x7ml9ZP52pZq2Qmu-uw3dqD9tn2eLTWDBf6R7RUn2geBGYIzK1EhMjLWJHxoMh4o7jiLtvkQxzdSVSVzhXUVdzPKssGMbWIQTQMCeqgbzJRC2SLe_vaT/s1600/12656521_10205926752311248_970029341_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBTRX83OplBV8BGRJxHK0FRc_x7ml9ZP52pZq2Qmu-uw3dqD9tn2eLTWDBf6R7RUn2geBGYIzK1EhMjLWJHxoMh4o7jiLtvkQxzdSVSVzhXUVdzPKssGMbWIQTQMCeqgbzJRC2SLe_vaT/s400/12656521_10205926752311248_970029341_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Credit to Duet Designs</td></tr>
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The Harry Potter series was a phenomenon that every author covets, and ever reader seeks - pure, magical storytelling. We feel like we know those characters, like we care what happened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione after the books ended (witness the pure excitement over the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play and book). The stories that JK Rowling created are accessible and captivating to audiences young and old, male and female, of all education levels, and from all walks of life. They are the books people can recommend over and over, to anyone who likes a little magic with their storytelling, and they are utterly timeless.</div>
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There are other books, some well-known, some obscure, that can capture imaginations and offer readers a world of escapism, magic, adventure, laughter, tears, and joy. Everyone has a list of books like that - the ones that create common ground among readers, the ones that make you say, "You read that book, too? Wasn't it amazing?" and with those words you feel like you know that person a little better. My neighbor became one of my best friends when she walked into my house, looked at my bookshelves, and declared, "I know you."</div>
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And in the interest of getting to know people just a little bit better, here are a few of those books I consider worthy to follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter. Read what sounds interesting (I'll provide as many links as I can find, but the library is always a great source), and then if you're inspired, let me know what you think.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QX076Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004QX076Y&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=LZMBM7UR6R2A3B44" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004QX076Y&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004QX076Y" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wishes are false. Hope is true. Hope makes its
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<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="background: white;">― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060824972/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060824972&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=WATLNCSK5KQMLTQP" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0060824972&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0060824972" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<b style="text-align: start;"><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">“... I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /><span style="background: white;">― Megan Whalen Turner, The Thief</span></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003G4W49C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003G4W49C&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=JCUR4VRRAAB7ZHLT" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B003G4W49C&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003G4W49C" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Because never in my entire childhood did I
feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am
today.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b></div>
<b></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;">― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game</span></span></b></b></div>
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<b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></b></div>
<b>
</b>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC130E/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FC130E&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=S3NCCWPI7AEFRAED" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000FC130E&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FC130E" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He had noticed that events were cowards: they
didn't occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him
all at once.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C43F70/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004C43F70&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=2UYB7DRVMVELMVFN" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004C43F70&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004C43F70" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</b><br />
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<b><b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You put a spell on the dog," I said as we
left the house.</span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Just a small one," said Nightingale.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"So magic is real," I said.
"Which makes you a...what?"</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"A wizard."</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Like Harry Potter?"<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Nightingale sighed. "No," he said.
"Not like Harry Potter."</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"In what way?"</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"I'm not a fictional character," said
Nightingale.”</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">― Ben Aaronovitch, Midnight Riot<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EMXBDMA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EMXBDMA&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=U6BAA7YGMUYQMBW4" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00EMXBDMA&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00EMXBDMA" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, of course duct tape works in a
near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be
worshiped.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Andy Weir, The Martian<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MHVTY0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007MHVTY0&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=GRBTN723Q3BL46TE" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007MHVTY0&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007MHVTY0" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The saddest thing is there won’t be anyone to
miss us when we’re gone. No family, no friends, no one waiting at home.”</span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">“It’s better that way,” I said. “It’ll be easier
for me, knowing my death doesn’t add to anyone’s pain.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“If you can’t give anyone pain, then you can’t
give them joy either.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The False Prince<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044UHVR2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0044UHVR2&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=3454IINBGS3M5HW5" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0044UHVR2&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0044UHVR2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Without a filter, a man is just chaos
walking.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SKUYM/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0010SKUYM&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=3JFZIJDPWVN6DJEO" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0010SKUYM&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0010SKUYM" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It's like everyone tells a story about
themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you
what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">―<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNWDMT8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00NNWDMT8&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=EIAXMWSEY5LNN4HH" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00NNWDMT8&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00NNWDMT8" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary
life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how
extraordinary it was.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for
Peculiar Children<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XUBFE2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000XUBFE2&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=DIZYZHQVV4TQ46JT" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000XUBFE2&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000XUBFE2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then
think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XWYDXY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B006XWYDXY&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=CZM3T4N7V5LO7MR7" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B006XWYDXY&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B006XWYDXY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Man is the one creature on Earth who knows he
will die, and that is an appalling intellectual burden.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Piers Anthony, On A Pale Horse<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041T52UY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0041T52UY&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=2M57ZT2GVAUWHIRG" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0041T52UY&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0041T52UY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He felt around desperately for a weapon. What
did he have? Diapers? Cookies? Oh, why hadn't they given him a sword? He was
the stupid warrior, wasn't he? His fingers dug in the leather bag and closed
around the root beer can. Root beer! He yanked out the can shaking it with all
his might. "Attack! Attack!" he yelled.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Suzanne Collins, Gregor the Overlander<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GQ6043A/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GQ6043A&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=6KFIDQXUDI5MQLRX" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00GQ6043A&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00GQ6043A" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I became, in other words, more like Holmes
than the man himself: brilliant, driven to a point of obsession, careless of
myself, mindless of others, but without the passion and the deep-down, inbred
love for the good in humanity that was the basis of his entire career. He loved
the humanity that could not understand or fully accept him; I, in the midst of
the same human race, became a thinking machine.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC0XV4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FC0XV4&linkCode=as2&tag=aprwhiboo-20&linkId=6PNW72IADTW3BCMG" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000FC0XV4&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=aprwhiboo-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=aprwhiboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FC0XV4" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Somehow," she said coldly, "you have
confused profitable and not profitable for right and wrong. I, however, have
not.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― Robin Hobb, Ship of Magic<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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If you have suggestions for other books to read after Harry Potter, leave those in the comments, too. Because I ALWAYS love a little magic with my storytelling.</div>
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<b>
</b>April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872602979003400714.post-14326136253681997972016-01-16T16:26:00.001-08:002016-11-23T04:05:01.149-08:00Format your ebook for Paperback PrintingThe e-book for Waging War was uploaded yesterday (!!!) and my pre-order will officially publish on January 26th. I learned a very cool trick from another author about .mobi files. When I uploaded my word doc to KDP, it gave me the option to use the online viewer for quality control (which I always do), or download a .mobi file (for the first time, I did that too). I now have a .mobi file to send out to reviewers as ARCs, without having to use Calibre, or take the extra step of converting it myself.<br />
<br />
We've already established my relative laziness, the .mobi-to-ARC trick is just further evidence of it.<br />
<br />
So, after celebratory wine (and fascinating conversations about the differences between men and women) with my editor last night, today was all about formatting the ebook doc to be uploaded to Createspace and Ingramspark for paperback printing.<br />
<br />
As with my last blog post about formatting an ebook, these are very personal preferences, and should be taken more as guidelines than rules. One thing I've learned after four books is that you want to wait until the very last minute to format the paperback - and by that I mean after the last, last, last edits are done. If someone would like to write me some computer code so that any edits I make to an ebook automatically change the same word in the paperback file, I'd be eternally grateful. Barring that, however, I will always have two distinct documents to edit any time there's something to fix.<br />
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So, just to keep things simple, after I've uploaded my ebook for publication, I make a copy of that file, and call it the print version. Then...<br />
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<li>Change the page size to whatever paperback trim size you prefer. Industry standards are 5x8, 5.5x8.5, and 6x9. I chose 5.5x8.5 because more of my favorite books were that size than any other. </li>
<li>Change the margin size to something that works for your word count and font size. Now, I realize that sounds very random, and it is. There are standards on Createspace <a href="https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp" target="_blank">(here's the link)</a> that you can follow, but my word counts are really high (Marking Time is 140k words), and if I went with the recommended settings, the book would have been over 500 pages. That's expensive to print, and would have jacked the consumer cost to more than I would personally pay for a book. So, the margins I set for my books are custom, The pages are mirrored (not "normal"), the gutters are .8, top margins .5, bottom margins .4, inside margins 0, and outside margins .5. My font size is 11.5pt. Garamond, which I chose because it looked appropriate for a book set in Victorian England, but 12pt. Times New Roman is pretty standard.</li>
<li>Insert any images you use (don't copy and past), and embed your fonts. Ingram Spark is VERY particular about this, and they'll kick your interior back until it's done right. Here's a <a href="https://standards.ieee.org/develop/embeddedfonts.pdf" target="_blank">link I found </a>that explains how.</li>
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That will give you a fair idea of your paperback page count. If it's too many or too few, you can play with the elements a bit (larger font size, though I wouldn't go bigger than 12.5pt, narrower margins, etc). When I wrote Marking Time I didn't realize that the industry standard for publishing is one space after a period, so I had done two spaces like my high school typing teacher taught. To change that, I selected all, then did a find/replace: in the find category I typed .(period) (space, space), and in the replace category I typed .(period) (space). I saved almost 20 pages in length when I made that change.</div>
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Once you have your page count, you (or your cover designer) can finish your paperback cover. The page count is necessary to get the spine width, and far better photoshoppers than I have done very good tutorials about cover design.</div>
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Now to build the pdf that will be uploaded to the printers:</div>
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<li>Cut all the front material (inside cover page, publisher info, table of contents, dedication, etc) so that your document begins on chapter one. </li>
<li>Create a new doc with the same page size and margins and paste the front material you just cut into it. Name this file "Front pages" or something like that. These two documents will be merged into one file again, but unless something has changed in Word, I can't figure out how to start numbering pages in a different page than the first one of the doc.</li>
<li>Go back to your main doc and number the pages. You can adjust the size of the footer as needed. Page 1 should be the page that your story begins on, whether it's Chapter One or a prologue. </li>
<li>Change your view of the main body of the book to 2-pages and scroll down page by page to check the pagination. This is called checking for "widows and orphans," which are the one or two words or lines at the top of a new page. They look very lonely, and should be fixed. If I have just one or two, I might try to pull up a paragraph higher in the chapter, or see if there's something that can be cut. If I have many, I'll drop every chapter heading about a third of the way down the page. That will usually ripple through the chapters to take care of the problem.</li>
<li>When I'm satisfied that the main text body looks good on the page, I save that as a PDF called "print body" or something like that.</li>
<li>Open the front pages doc. Use the numbered body pages doc to find the page numbers for the table of contents. Format everything so it looks good, and make sure it's an EVEN number of pages long. If it's an odd number, Chapter One will fall on a left-side page and look weird. Add a blank page at the end if you need to. Then save it as a PDF.</li>
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You need Adobe Acrobat Pro for this next step. If you don't have it, get it, find a friend who has it, or download the free trial. Open Acrobat and select "combine files." Then add the two PDFs, put them in the right order, make sure it's the largest size (bottom right of your screen) file, then combine. Check the document and make sure it looks right, then save it as the proper name of your book. In my case the file name is Waging War (The Immortal Descendants Book 4). I am consistent with both ebook and print book files because it's a way to help make sure they find each other in the Amazon world. I then save this file to my desktop so it doesn't get lost in the myriad of drafts in the Waging War file.</div>
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Go to Createspace, create your book, upload the doc, upload the cover, and ta da - a print book is born.</div>
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Obviously, I'm assuming a fair degree of fluency with Word. There are a lot of really good tutorials about formatting online, which was how I taught myself to format (along with a lot of trial and error), and Createspace has a good manual. I'm also more than happy to answer any specific questions you have about how I do my books.</div>
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Happy writing!</div>
April Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06695931655264740142noreply@blogger.com