Feline, Furball, and Feathers Friday!
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
It's been a while, hasn't it? In celebration of geek freedom (or, perhaps, a comfy spot), here's Midnight on today's Fry's ad:
Yes, that makes it Feline Fry's Day.
To join in the Feline Friday fun, visit Steven's (sometimes)photoblog. And do give a virtual wave to the handsome Pickle Cat.
Tags:
Pictures Cats Feline Friday
7/3/2009 6:37:09 PM
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Writers (And Readers!) Making A$$es of Themselves?
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Julie Barrett
I'm a little late on the draw, but if you haven't heard about the dust-ups involving authors Alice Hoffman and Alain de Botton, you can find a good round-up over at Dear Author.
It's always been my position that when someone publishes a piece of work that they should be ready to accept criticism. This goes double if you get paid for your work. Yes, many of us have been victims of editorial screw-ups, but in general, it's our name on the cover or byline, and we have to take the flak. Of course, we also get to take the bouquets of roses, and what author doesn't hope for good reviews?
This is why I'm puzzled by writers who take this sort of behavior to the public arena. If you have a problem with a review, it should be sorted out directly with the publication or the reviewer. Of course, factual errors are one thing. If it's a bad review, I'd at least like to see my name spelled correctly. But reviews are, ultimately, opinion. And while we may disagree, we don't look very good when we throw a hissy fit.
The Internet makes it easy to throw fits - and they get caught in caches for eternity. These authors found out the hard way.
Of course, authors can throw fits in person, too. Not long ago at a convention I was in the audience at a panel. The speaker got started late and was working to wrap up a demo. He'd been given his five-minute warning, and acknowledged it. About a minute later people from the back of the room started heckling him to finish up. Every time he got interrupted, he had to go back and remember where he left off. Some of the heckling from the back of the room was downright rude, too. As I left I was shocked to discover that among the instigators were authors on the next panel.
Folks, just because you're at a convention away from home you're not excused from proper behavior. This kind of stuff gets around. Writers and editors talk. I've done some pretty boneheaded things in my past, and I've tried to own up to them and move on. An apology - and a consistent pattern of behavior afterward that shows you meant it - does mean a lot.
And now, the other side of the coin.
Readers can be jerks, too. Witness this book, which got picked up on Digg and other sites yesterday. The reviews on Amazon are not reviews, but an exercise in snark. Dare I say it? I will. It's a pissing contest to see who can write the "wittiest" review. There appear to be two actual reviews buried in there, but if he had one sale for each review, he'd at least have achieved average sales for a self-published book.
Of course, it's self-published. He paid to have an unedited 77-page book put on the market for the amazing price of $15.99. You read that price right.
Based on the previews on the publisher's site, they're not very good books. Since I haven't read them I'll hold out hope that there's a germ of a good idea in there somewhere, but if there is, it has been hidden quite well amongst the numerous grammar and spelling errors.
There have been Internet feeding frenzies on bad books before (Night Travels of the Elven Vampire, anyone?), but this one seems a little different. The author appears to have kept a low profile other than pushing is books on a blog that isn't focused on his writing. He's not out whining about all the mean people. If he is, his complaints are buried in Google. I admire his apparent self-restraint.
So now you're wondering if this contradicts everything I said above. Nope. He published the book, he has to take the criticism. And yet, I do feel for him as the victim of yet another Internet pile-on. I hope he can prevail upon Amazon to remove the "reviews."
To help wash the taste out of your mouth I leave you with Dear Author's list of Authors Behaving Well. Yes, it happens.
Tags: Writing Publishing
7/2/2009 10:38:27 PM
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A Hot And Muggy Day
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Julie Barrett
85F with 64% humidity. It's enough to make your clothes drip when you go near a door.
Chris and I ran out this morning for coffee and a buzz through Barnes and Noble. Then we headed to Home Depot for some potting supplies, hit the grocery store, then came home to repot the aloe vera plants that fell over in the storm yesterday. We also pulled the pups (some of them were big enough to be full-grown dogs) out of the pot with the Honkin' Big Aloe Vera Plant and then repotted it. I'm afraid I'm going to have to either get a larger pot or plant it in the yard. It's getting huge. I'm not sure it would survive in the yard.
Oh, yes. We also picked up a new bird feeder - one that's billed as squirrel-proof. I'm not sure if there's really such a thing, but we'll see how well this works.
Off to do a few more tasks today...
Life
6/30/2009 1:47:53 PM
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After The Rain
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
We had quite a storm pass through here this morning. At a guess I'd say we probably got a good inch of the stuff. It came down hard and fast. We even had wind and hail. A plant stand in the corner of the patio fell over, and here's the aftermath:
Two broken flower pots. The plant on the far left survived because it was on the lowest tier.
One obligatory water droplet picture:
That split leaf philodendron survived just fine, thank you very much.
Of course, I don't have any spare pots on hand, but the aloe will hold several days if need be.
More thunder. I'm definitely not going out to Home Depot (or even the dollar store down the street) for pots until this stuff clears out.
Tags: Pictures, Weather
6/29/2009 11:59:24 AM
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Where Did The Weekend Go?
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Julie Barrett
We kind of decided we wouldn't spend the entire weekend home sitting on our tails, but what to do? We went shopping!
You have to understand that for us, shopping generally doesn't entail spending gobs of money - unless we're spending the money on something we actually need. Friday night we walked the aisles at Fry's. I don't know if the A/C was on the fritz or if they were trying to save energy, but the place was just a little too hot. We headed home.
Saturday we headed out to CompUSA. Again, we didn't buy a thing, but the idea of getting out of the house and being somewhere else was a good one. I performed a software upgrade and did a little work, but spent much of the evening watching television and being lazy.
Today we decided to hit the sale at IKEA. We picked up a few little things: a new kitchen knife to replace one with a broken handle, a bed pillow, a few storage boxes for the office, and a pair of lamps for the bedroom. I wouldn't call the lamps a major purchase at $10 each, but we were beyond ready to replace the aging lamps we had. They were part of our first batch of furniture. One had a broken base that we just turned the other direction. The other had a worn out shade, and they both were so huge that they took up half the space on each nightstand. We have separate, high-intensity reading lamps clipped to the headboard, and so we really didn't need large bedside lamps. I hope they work out.
I did a little more work tonight, which wrapped up the bulk of the web project I've been wailing and gnashing teeth over. I just hope it all goes over well.
Back to book and bed. I've had a couple of really good nights of sleep lately, and while it's probably too much to ask for three in a row, I'll certainly give it a shot!
Tags: Life
6/28/2009 10:21:08 PM
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Weekend Assignment: Music(ians) of Your Life
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Julie Barrett
The death of Michael Jackson has provoked a huge reaction, much of it from people who grew up listening to his music. Is there a particular musician whose work has particular meaning for you?
My musical tastes are fairly eclectic, and so it's hard to pin any artist down. Paul McCartney is about the only "must have" artist for me these days. Of course, there are the "moment" songs. We all have songs associated with memories. But if you mean someone will leave a gaping hole, I'm not sure.
Sure, I grew up listening to the Jackson 5. I even had a picture of young Michael Jackson on my wall when I was twelve. But my heart belonged to the Beatles. Even then, I listened to a lot of different music. I was probably the only kid my age who knew that swing music wasn't something made schmaltzy by Lawrence Welk. I was also a huge standup comedy fan and could listen to those records for hours. I still can. The other day I was reading an urban fantasy story that involved Noah, and all I could think of was Bill Cosby: "God? What's a cubit?"
What can I say? I've always listened to a variety of stuff.
Extra credit: What is your personal reaction, if any, to the death of Michael Jackson?
I was shocked initially. I'm very close to his age, so there's always that pang of one's own mortality. My first thought was massive cardiac arrest, and at least he apparently didn't go under suspicious circumstances. My second thought was that the tabloids won't let go of this for months. There will be tandem Elvis and MJ sightings now.
But I can't see him has a candidate for sainthood any more than Elvis Presley was, or Johnny Cash was, or Buddy Holly was, or John Lennon was. They were artists who touched a lot of lives, but they were human beings, and all flawed just like everyone else. I try to ignore the bulk of the media coverage, but it's like watching a train wreck (what happened to THAT story?): I just can't peel my eyes away.
But I will. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. What that has to do with the assignment, I don't know. Other than the fact that it shows I have better things to do than follow the media hype.
Tags: Weekend Assignment
6/27/2009 11:02:14 PM
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Friday!
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
Of course, it's been a busy week here. I have a self-imposed deadline of the middle of next week for the current project, which means I'll probably finish next Friday. I do have to get this out of the way so I can work on other things.
So, the heat. Yeah, it's darn near like the end of July or sometime in August here - highs of 101 or so. Right now it's 85F.
I lied. The thermometer just crept to 86F.
Time to get moving. The sooner I get out of the house on errands, the sooner I can get back home to the air conditioning.
Tags: Life
6/26/2009 8:54:27 AM
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It's Hot Here. How Are You?
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
The heat has come early to this part of the country. We hit 100F yesterday and are looking at similar temperatures for the next few days. We're under a heat advisory and an ozone alert.
Me? I've been swamped with a web project for a couple of weeks. Normal (whatever that is) posting may resume when I get out from under this work.
Tags: Life
6/24/2009 3:07:54 PM
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Weekend Assignment: Here Comes Summer!
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
What are your plans for the summer months? Do things get busier for you this time of year, or slow down? Do you go on vacation, or stick close to home?
Vacation? What's that? Oh, I could use a few days off, but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
We're so swamped right now that getting away for more than a weekend is problematic. And even then it's a weekend combined with something else, like a convention appearance for me or a bowling tournament for Chris.
I'm busy with planning for FenCon and doing jobs that come my way. Paul is busy on a project at the office. Chris is working to get his transfer approved so he can start taking classes in the next summer session. In other words, we'll be close to the house.
Extra credit: Do you do much summer TV viewing? Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to watching?
We're looking forward to Torchwood this summer, but that's about it. Our local PBS station is in another pledge drive. ("Give us money so we can rerun the same music programs for ANOTHER five years!" Actually, I do support my local public television station. I do have to wonder how much money they can raise off of airing the same "events" over and over. I just go find a book to read.) Once in a while there's a good movie, but it's generally on the station we don't want to pay $25 a month to get. So there ya go.
Tags: Weekend Assignment
6/20/2009 12:52:24 PM
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More Promotional Fail
Fresh (almost) daily from
Julie Barrett
This morning I woke up to not one, but two promotional e-mails from the same entity - to two different e-mail addresses.
This appears to be another misguided case of, "I'll just write everyone in my address book and apologize if they complain." Sorry, but that's not the way it works. Folks, this is basic e-mail etiquette.
Yes, I'm happy when I get published, but I don't spam my entire address list every time I have an announcement. That's why I have a blog, and that's why you should, too.
I wouldn't even mind one announcement from a writer or publisher or business contact that said they were putting together a list and to respond if I'm interested. But to just assume that I want your mailings is wrong. Oh, and if that first commercial mailing has opt-out instructions, that would work as well. It's doubly wrong to assume I want to continue to get your mailings.
In a related vein, read this article by Kelly McCollough at Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists. The clue that a lot of writers are missing? Be professional. It's that simple.
Tags: Self-Promotion Writing
6/16/2009 8:07:34 PM
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