I keep saying I'm going to start a web service geared to my Mom and her friends because I spend a lot of time helping them with their computer and Internet issues. The only thing stopping me is that I want to call it Blue-Haired Web Service, and my Mom would kill me if I did. Age jokes are NOT funny to her. Don't even get her started on the label senior citizen!
All joking aside, I was typing up some security tips to disseminate to her and my other blue and silver-haired "students" and thought I'd pass them along to you as well. I read these in today's Houston Chronicle and thought their expose in the Business section was useful knowledge for everyone.
If you have someone of a certain age you love, print this out for them.
1. Don't ever answer an email supposedly from a bank or mortgage company. Banks don't send emails to customers. Sheesh, they barely have the time to service you when you stand in line so what makes you think they'll personally email you? DELETE without opening the message.
2. Don't ever answer an email supposedly requesting a donation for charity. Legit charities don't use email to solicit donations. DELETE without opening.
3. Don't ever answer an email where a store wants to send you a free gift card. Trust me, Macy's isn't in the habit of sending $500.00 gift cards. DELETE without opening.
4. If you set up a PayPal or Ebay account, they will never send you an email without using the user ID to contact you. Be suspicious of every email that says it's from Ebay or PayPal. Open your browser, go to your online account, and read about how to verify legitimate emails. Print out the information. Keep it by your computer so you can check out those emails if necessary.
5. To verify whether a nonprofit organization is legitimate, got to www.guidestar.org.
6. To check out securities dealers or legitimate information on investments, go to www.sec.gov/investor/seniors.
7. To check out whether the amazing email story you received from a friend is true, go to www.snopes.com.
8. Not on the Net, but in real life, if someone befriends you, earns your trust. and then, in whatever way or circumstance, offers to help you manage anything if you'll give them power of attorney, run the other way. Power of attorney should be 3 words that are warning signals screaming: "Danger, danger!"
9. Let your representatives know that you support legislation to enhance punishment for those who prey on the elderly and the disabled.
10. Register with every "do not call" agency so you won't get those calls from telemarketers. If you still get them, learn these 2 sentences and overcome whatever manners that were drilled into you as a child: "No, thank you. Remove this number from your call list."
They're supposed to say, "Yes, we will." If they start arguing. Hang up. If they call back, ask for their name and phone number and report them to your state's attorney general.
I look at it this way: unsolicited emails and phone calls do not require white gloves and manners. Though some of the stuff falling into my Inbox makes me think I need to wear rubber gloves to deal with it. E-yu!
Meager offering
I'm doing on-site work for a client so I'm not really at home, but the world of computers makes it look as if I am. Hmmm. How many plots have been done that revolve around techno-created alibis? Actually, I can't think of one except an old Columbo episode. Anybody?
Anyway, I have a quotation today as my minimum-required blog effort. This is from the irrepressible Fran Lebowitz and was brought to mind by some of the books that have landed on my desk this last month and by an artist portfolio I viewed recently.
Fran said: "Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.
Some people should have their computers, number two pencils, and Crayons taken away.
Don't bother bribing me. My lips are sealed.
Anyway, I have a quotation today as my minimum-required blog effort. This is from the irrepressible Fran Lebowitz and was brought to mind by some of the books that have landed on my desk this last month and by an artist portfolio I viewed recently.
Fran said: "Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.
Some people should have their computers, number two pencils, and Crayons taken away.
Don't bother bribing me. My lips are sealed.
Bill Crider is amazing
There are few bloggers as dedicated and prolific as my friend Bill Crider. Visit his blog Bill Crider's Popular Culture Magazine and congratulate him on his 4000th blog entry. Actually, that's 4004 as of today.
Better yet. Go buy one of his books. Authors like that as much as they like accolades. Maybe more since that equals royalties.
Pour me some of that cyber champagne, Bill. Here's looking at you!
Better yet. Go buy one of his books. Authors like that as much as they like accolades. Maybe more since that equals royalties.
Pour me some of that cyber champagne, Bill. Here's looking at you!
Happy Birthday, U. S. of A.
Freedom isn't free. The freedom we celebrate was bought and paid for with the blood of patriots, the blood of our soldiers, sailors, air force, coast guard and marines. Whether you agree with the politics that sent our military into harm's way or not, please support our troops. There are many organizations that send care packages to them or help out their families at home. If you haven't made a donation before to aid our military, do so this year.Whatever your faith, wherever you are right now, take a minute to say a prayer for our country. No matter what you think is wrong with this country, take it from me. I've lived all over the world. There's no country better than this one. No country that provides more opportunity for its citizens. No country that has provided so much for so many others in different parts of the world. No country that has such lofty ideals. True, we fall short. But we keep trying.
I'm Christian so I say, "God bless America."
Cutting, slashing, bleeding aka revising
I finally did it. I butchered the first two chapters of my WIP. Was it crap, you ask?
Actually, it wasn't. It was laugh out loud funny for twenty or more pages, the length of the two chapters. So why did I chop it to shreds?
Because it didn't advance the plot.
I loved those two chapters because it revealed the heroine in all her dysfunctional, comic glory. But, forward motion of the plot screeched to a standstill because I got so involved in writing the yuks that I lost sight of where the story should be going.
Sometimes I have such fun writing dialogue and crazy internalizations that I think I need to put brakes on the old keyboard. I'm smokin' hot, but going nowhere.
A writer always needs to remember what the through-story is and not get carried away by the introductory scene which, though highly entertaining and interesting, may not have anything to do with the plot which will be kicked off by an initiating incident a few pages beyond.
If you don't heed this, then you end up with 20-30 pages of wonderful prose that then must be cut. And sometimes that's hard to do because, darn it, you just think it's wonderfully witty and maybe the editor will be swept away by your writing and ignore the fact that....
Nope. Ain't gonna happen. Cut and be done with it. Move on down the road with the story you're telling.
Actually, it wasn't. It was laugh out loud funny for twenty or more pages, the length of the two chapters. So why did I chop it to shreds?
Because it didn't advance the plot.
I loved those two chapters because it revealed the heroine in all her dysfunctional, comic glory. But, forward motion of the plot screeched to a standstill because I got so involved in writing the yuks that I lost sight of where the story should be going.
Sometimes I have such fun writing dialogue and crazy internalizations that I think I need to put brakes on the old keyboard. I'm smokin' hot, but going nowhere.
A writer always needs to remember what the through-story is and not get carried away by the introductory scene which, though highly entertaining and interesting, may not have anything to do with the plot which will be kicked off by an initiating incident a few pages beyond.
If you don't heed this, then you end up with 20-30 pages of wonderful prose that then must be cut. And sometimes that's hard to do because, darn it, you just think it's wonderfully witty and maybe the editor will be swept away by your writing and ignore the fact that....
Nope. Ain't gonna happen. Cut and be done with it. Move on down the road with the story you're telling.
Writing news: Elmer Kelton, Sandhills Boy
Call me a foolish dreamer or a hopeless romantic, but I believe there is still a viable market for the western novel. The western and the western hero is in the ethos of America. I honestly believe if readers would pick up some of the western novels by the premier writers of the genre, they would find compelling books with great characterization. They'd also find that most of these characters and stories aren't as far removed from today as they believe.
Though Clint has given us the anti-western in Unforgiven, a grim tale of all that was bad about the West, I think there was much that was heroic and admirable and, yes, good about the West, though it has become unpopular to believe.
What brought on all this analysis of a dying genre? I read a review of Elmer Kelton's memoir Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.
Now, you may think it odd that I, a published romance novelist and a would-be mystery novelist (wait for it, my manuscript will be finished by fall!), see the allure of western novels. What you don't know is that I cut my teeth on Zane Grey novels. I read every one I could get my hands on the summer I was thirteen.
Kelton, the son of a real cowboy, has published 50 novels with many of them like The Time It Never Rained being highly regarded. Though he's not the household name McMurtry is, Kelton is one of the best writers from Texas, and this state has produced some good ones.
Sandhills Boy tells of his early knowledge that he wanted to be a writer. Encouraged by his mother and misunderstood by his father, he majored in journalism at UT but was drafted into the Army and sent to Europe. After the war ended, he was assigned to a POW camp in Austria where he met the young woman who became his wife.
Persistence paid off, red tape was eventually surmounted, and they married and settled in Austin.
Kelton began a full-time job as the farm and ranch reporter at the newspaper in San Angelo. Though he published his first fiction in the late forties, he never quit his day job. He did his faction at night and on weekends.
Kelton was, and is, a working writer, mining the theme of change over and over in his books. Get a copy of his memoir and let that lead you to his books.
Though Clint has given us the anti-western in Unforgiven, a grim tale of all that was bad about the West, I think there was much that was heroic and admirable and, yes, good about the West, though it has become unpopular to believe.
What brought on all this analysis of a dying genre? I read a review of Elmer Kelton's memoir Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.
Now, you may think it odd that I, a published romance novelist and a would-be mystery novelist (wait for it, my manuscript will be finished by fall!), see the allure of western novels. What you don't know is that I cut my teeth on Zane Grey novels. I read every one I could get my hands on the summer I was thirteen.
Kelton, the son of a real cowboy, has published 50 novels with many of them like The Time It Never Rained being highly regarded. Though he's not the household name McMurtry is, Kelton is one of the best writers from Texas, and this state has produced some good ones.
Sandhills Boy tells of his early knowledge that he wanted to be a writer. Encouraged by his mother and misunderstood by his father, he majored in journalism at UT but was drafted into the Army and sent to Europe. After the war ended, he was assigned to a POW camp in Austria where he met the young woman who became his wife.
Persistence paid off, red tape was eventually surmounted, and they married and settled in Austin.
Kelton began a full-time job as the farm and ranch reporter at the newspaper in San Angelo. Though he published his first fiction in the late forties, he never quit his day job. He did his faction at night and on weekends.
Kelton was, and is, a working writer, mining the theme of change over and over in his books. Get a copy of his memoir and let that lead you to his books.
Inspiration
Hello, Blog Universe! I'm back.
Actually, I didn't intend to take off the entire month of June which I basically did. When I returned from Italy, I found so much writing work waiting for me. Between fulfilling all the contracts offered and trying to get a couple of pages on my mystery done each day, I just didn't have the energy or brain power to blog.
Today is the first day of a new month, and it's a great day to return to blogging.
Since it's Sunday, let's get back on track with my first of the week inspiration, a quotation from Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States.
"If you wait for inspiration, inspiration's going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with."
Now, if you are an aspiring writer, chances are you view writing as something done when the "muse" is communing with you. There's something you don't know that professional writers do. Inspiration comes to those who write consistently, every day.
Professional writers don't wait for inspiration before hitting the keyboard. We know that the part of the brain that spews words is like an old-fashioned water pump. If you don't know how one of those water pumps work, let me enlighten you.
The pump has a long, cast iron handle. You pump the handle up and down vigorously. After a few seconds of pumping, water spurts out - unless the pump hasn't been used in a long time. If the pump isn't used regularly, you may have to pump and pump until your arm muscles scream in protest and you're out of breath. It takes a long time for that water to spurt out. Sometimes, you even have to prime the pump by pouring water into it in order for it to start pumping water out again.
That's how writing works. When you write every day, it's easy to get that outpouring of words. But, if you write every now and then, when inspired, it takes a lot longer to get the words flowing. Many professional writers leave nothing to chance. They prime the pump every day by leaving a dangling thread that can easily be picked up the next day. They also may prime the pump by reading over what they wrote the previous day, editing it a bit, and then diving into the current day's writing.
Sometimes, writers who don't write regularly have a difficult time getting the words to flow. Sometimes the flow is less than a drizzle, only a drip or two. If they give up then, it's even harder the next day. Sometimes if they don't persist and keep pumping that handle and priming that pump, the flow dries up completely. The longer they go without producing a flow of words, the harder it gets to squeeze a word out.
That's when a writer says they have writer's block.
I dont' think I've ever heard of a daily working writer with writer's block.
"If you wait for inspiration, inspiration's going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with."
Actually, I didn't intend to take off the entire month of June which I basically did. When I returned from Italy, I found so much writing work waiting for me. Between fulfilling all the contracts offered and trying to get a couple of pages on my mystery done each day, I just didn't have the energy or brain power to blog.
Today is the first day of a new month, and it's a great day to return to blogging.
Since it's Sunday, let's get back on track with my first of the week inspiration, a quotation from Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States.
"If you wait for inspiration, inspiration's going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with."
Now, if you are an aspiring writer, chances are you view writing as something done when the "muse" is communing with you. There's something you don't know that professional writers do. Inspiration comes to those who write consistently, every day.
Professional writers don't wait for inspiration before hitting the keyboard. We know that the part of the brain that spews words is like an old-fashioned water pump. If you don't know how one of those water pumps work, let me enlighten you.
The pump has a long, cast iron handle. You pump the handle up and down vigorously. After a few seconds of pumping, water spurts out - unless the pump hasn't been used in a long time. If the pump isn't used regularly, you may have to pump and pump until your arm muscles scream in protest and you're out of breath. It takes a long time for that water to spurt out. Sometimes, you even have to prime the pump by pouring water into it in order for it to start pumping water out again.
That's how writing works. When you write every day, it's easy to get that outpouring of words. But, if you write every now and then, when inspired, it takes a lot longer to get the words flowing. Many professional writers leave nothing to chance. They prime the pump every day by leaving a dangling thread that can easily be picked up the next day. They also may prime the pump by reading over what they wrote the previous day, editing it a bit, and then diving into the current day's writing.
Sometimes, writers who don't write regularly have a difficult time getting the words to flow. Sometimes the flow is less than a drizzle, only a drip or two. If they give up then, it's even harder the next day. Sometimes if they don't persist and keep pumping that handle and priming that pump, the flow dries up completely. The longer they go without producing a flow of words, the harder it gets to squeeze a word out.
That's when a writer says they have writer's block.
I dont' think I've ever heard of a daily working writer with writer's block.
"If you wait for inspiration, inspiration's going to go away and look for more fertile ground to work with."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)