High School Art

Today I'm at an art competition for high school students. My husband and I are assisting our daughter, the art teacher who's still on crutches. We loaded up the sculptures, paintings, and drawings and made the trek to a high school far north of Houston.

The quality of art produced by these kids is simply amazing. Of course, when our daughter was in high school, she also amazed us with her talent. She was a state winner in sculpture so she knows how important it is to kids who want a career in art to do well in the competitions.

This one is the first of many that we'll attend between now and next spring. Sometimes I feel as if I've never left high school since I've spent so much time at one since our daughter's surgery has made it difficult to get around.

Takeaway Truth

They say kids keep you younger. I guess that's true if you stay involved in kid activities and surrounded by hundreds of them. 

Let's Rodeo!

Fall may be upon us, but, here in Texas, a lot of people are thinking about next spring. Kids are readying their animals to compete in the Houston Rodeo & Livestock Show, and adults and kids alike are thinking about an equally important aspect of the 2010 rodeo. Tickets to concerts at the Houston Rodeo!

Yep, it's time to start deciding which of the world-class entertainment acts you want to see at rodeoHOUSTON because tickets are already available for some of the acts like the teen crush Jonas Brothers and 2009 GRAMMY winner for Best Country Male Vocal Performance Brad Paisley. Perennial favorites, and multiple GRAMMY and CMA winners, Brooks & Dunn will be there too.

What Makes Houston Rodeo Special

Since I live in the Houston area, I know all about this annual event. Let me tell you what makes it so special. You get the thrills and chills of one of the biggest rodeos in the world, but you also get to see the most popular entertainers of the time.

After the day’s rodeo events conclude, the arena is cleared away and a unique rotating stage is moved to the center of the ring. That's when it's time to sit back and be entertained by acts usually found only in Vegas or touring and performing to sold out venues. We're talking country, rock, hip hop and Latin.

TeamOneTickets.com

Check out the website to see who's being booked and on which dates. If you're like me and have been to the rodeo in the past, you know that they have something for everyone regardless of your musical taste.

From the tween crowd pleasers like Miley Cyrus to traditional country music by George Strait; from hard rocking Bon Jovi to the sensual sounds of Beyonce; from ZZ Top, that little Texas band beloved by all, to Maroon 5; the Houston Rodeo is the biggest party in Texas, and you're invited.

Scoring Tickets

Getting tickets for the performers you want to see is easy. Go to the TeamOneTickets website, a BBB Accredited Business that's COMODO Hacker Proof protected, and take a look at the line up of entertainers. You can purchase online or call using their toll free phone number.

Read their policies and their guarantee regarding your ticket delivery, and you'll get peace of mind that you won't miss the big date. They've been in this business since 1979 so they know what they're doing, and they know how to make sure they satisfy the customer.

You can select the entertainer you want to see, the date you want, and the seat you want. For the chance to see these stellar acts, the ticket prices are quite reasonable I think. There's usually a price that fits every budget, but the great thing is that no matter where you sit, you get a good view of the stage. Remember I mentioned that rotating stage? That ensures that everyone gets to see the entertainment from every angle.

Takeaway Truth

I've been to the Houston Rodeo, and it's Texas-size fun. It's also an event that makes for family memories and laughter.

A Nag Ram, A Rag Man, Anagram

Have you ever thought about creating a pseudonym to use in your writing? If so, a neat way to do it is to create an Anagram from your name.

Anagram Defined

When a noun, the word means a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. The verb form is anagrammatize, meaning to rearrange letters in such a way. Anagram has Greek roots: anagrammatismos. Ana meaning up, again, back, new plus gram meaning letter.

Anagram Website

The website is neat. You can plug in your name and get a list of anagrams. The example they use on the home page is an anagram of Clint Eastwood: Old West Action. How very appropriate.

Anagrams of SlingWords include World Sings and World Signs. Go check out some anagrams of your names, blog titles, and such. You may find inspiration for a new blog, book title, or pseudonym.

Takeaway Truth

Words provide endless fun for writers.

Blogs Beget Publishing Contracts

The phenomenon of blog writers getting book contracts seems to have turned into a trend. Now there are literary agents who monitor popular blogs and keep tabs on the blog's consistent traffic numbers. Apparently, the thinking is that successful blogs have built-in audiences that will buy books. According to publishing insiders, every publishing house is paying attention to successful blogs.

Blog To Book

From blog to book is something I think you'll see happen more often as time goes by because publishers and agents see it as, if not a slam dunk, at least a good bet with content already in place. All that's needed is layout, artwork, and, voila, you have a book that has legs, if not wings.

Christian Lander, publisher of Stuff White People Like, is a good example. His humor blog was turned into a popular book by the same name in 2008.

Takeaway Truth

You never know where a path may lead.

Writers Must Monitor Licensing

Recently, I wrote about Fair Use, the concept of using certain material for review, research, critique, etc.

What I want to relate to you today is not about Fair Use per se, it is about the need for writers to monitor what is done with their work, i.e., Fair Use, as well as how licensing agreements are executed.

A couple of years ago, Jon Krakauer sued Houghton Mifflin Co. and RR Donnelley & Sons Co. He alleged that they had infringed his copyright for the best-selling novel Into Thin Air. They had contracted with him to reprint several thousand copies of an excerpt from his novel to be included in a ninth-grade textbook. Instead, they reprinted more than a million.

Writers need to monitor the results from contracts to make sure the licensing activity is that to which they have agreed. This is one of those situations where you know what to do, but you don't know how to precisely go about it. If you're a big name author, high up on the food chain, it's easier because you have an agent and probably legal representation who can follow up on these issues.

For midlist and below, this is a DIY project that may be next to impossible.

Takeaway Truth

It's not enough to be a good writer. One must also be an astute business person as well.

Halloween

Quote for the Week

This is the week that ends with Halloween. Ghosts and goblins, princesses and ninjas, and a good assortment of other pop culture-based costumes will appear on doorsteps everywhere and cry the words that strike delight in most adults' hearts: "Trick or treat."

Of course, if we're talking real fear, let's look to what Arthur Conan Doyle said: "Where there is no imagination there is no horror."

Horror writers everywhere depend on readers having an imagination. Of course, what Arthur Conan Doyle said is why I don't watch horror movies or read very many horror novels: my imagination is simply too vivid and all-encompassing.

Recently, I wrote about Horror on my other blog. I should have included this quote by J. M. Barrie: "A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night."

In this country, Halloween, as most of us know it, is for kids to dress up and get candy. Lots of candy. No bump in the night for the little ones. At least I hope not. It's not nice to scare little kids.

Takeaway Truth

I think we all agree with Steve Almond, "Nothing on Earth is so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night."

Does Email Promtion Help?

Writers who have been in the promotion trenches for a long time have a lot to teach business owners who are thinking about using email or email newsletters to promote their product and/or their businesses.

Valuable Clutter

I reached this conclusion as I reread articles from last winter's Authors Guild Bulletin. You see, we're in the 4Q of the year so it's time to start clearing out the clutter of accumulated magazines and newsletters that still arrive in my mail box. Don't get me wrong. I like these hard copies because I can read them at my leisure instead of on the computer monitor. I like to stack them on the bedside table for reading in bed.

Of course, I hang onto them for most of the year too. I like to refer back to them and again read the particularly good articles. The subject of one such article is what I want to talk about today.

Email Newsletters

If you're an author, or you're in business, chances are you either publish an electronic newsletter, or you're thinking about publishing one because the buzz is that it helps sell books or whatever product in which you have a vested interest. At the very least, you think it may help fix your name, product name, or business name in the minds of the reader.

Authors Guild Also Wondered

Authors Guild, of which I'm a member, also wondered if email newsletters helped so they did a survey and published the results in last winter's Authors Guild Bulletin. (I'm always pushing membership in the Authors Guild because I think they do great work on behalf of writers. If you're eligible for membership, please join us. Tell them I sent you. *g*)

Survey Says

More than 2100 working writers responded to the survey. About 40% of them said they either use email newsletters or compile email lists in order to promote their work. In fact, two thirds of the respondents think using some sort of email promotion helps, but another third don't know if it helps or not.

Like most authors can tell small businesses thinking about doing an email campaign of some sort, you do a lot of stuff - everything that comes down the Internet pike - hoping it makes a difference and will give you some definable benefit, but you never really know whether any of it really works.

What Writers Can Teach Businesses

Some writers say they can see a rise in their ratings on Amazon after sending an email to coincide with the release of their latest book, but those writers seem to be the minority. I suspect the writers who can verify an increase in sales in relation to an email newsletter are the already big selling authors.

Most writers don't see any increase yet they keep sending out into the electronic ether with the thought that they are promoting their name. They look upon the effort as laying a foundation and building upon it. Eventually, payoffs will result.

Best Campaign

Sending emails or newsletters is wasted effort if the recipient just hits the delete key. The result you want is for the recipient to open the email or newsletter and to read it. How do you achieve that?

1. Don't make the newsletter nothing but an advertisement for your book or product. Just like a good book, your mailing must have a hook that makes the recipient read on.

2. Think of the recipients and what you can give to them. Entertainment? Education? Escape from reality? Contest prizes? You want to think of who they are, how they live, and what they need. Then give that to them in your newsletter.

3. Don't wait until you're famous to get something going. Cindi Myers aka Cynthia Sterling started publishing her Market Newsletter long before she herself was published. Most romance authors know her because of that email newsletter, and so do editors and agents because of her information gathering from them. Start early in order to build an audience for your information.

4. Never email anyone who has not requested information from you. If you plan on an email or an email newsletter, make sure they know you're gathering their addy for that purpose. You want to befriend people, not alienate them with what they'll consider spam.

Takeaway Truth

Promotion via email is something that can work for any author, even those who would rather walk barefoot over broken beer bottles than speak in public.