Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Kimberly A. Cook

Can You Take A Photo Field Trip From Your Front Porch?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Slogging away on the treadmill Sunday I spied the first robin of the season. Then I saw another and another and another; there were a gaggle of robins. The field across the road seemed to be robin snack central. Since I heard crickets for the first time Saturday night, seemed like a possible reason.

Robin looking for crickets by a mud puddle across from my front porch. Pretty bird!
Robin looking for crickets by a mud puddle across from my front porch. Pretty bird!

So I grabbed both cameras and took a long jaunt on a photo field trip – to my front porch to be exact. Sat down on the top step and proceeded to take pics of the birds. The camera I carry with me all the time is a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS Digital Elph. Adore this camera, even though it only has a 3.8x zoom lens and 7.1 mega pixels. Bought a pink camera case for it at www.cutecamcase.com which has a backup battery slot pouch too, always need one of those.

Since I was too lazy to go out in the rain and get wet, I brought in the big gun for backup: the Canon PowerShot SX200 with a 12x zoom. While the 12.1 mega pixels are great on this camera, it has just enough heft that I can’t carry it in my purse all the time, but I love the long zoom lens.

The better zoom lens shows the difference between a gaggle of robins in a field and getting up beak and personal with the feathered friends. Photography and writers go together; we capture scenes not only in our imagination but in everyday life too and regurgitate those images into writing. Better than eating worms, but the same premise pretty much.

I’ve developed a camera collection by accident since I can’t let go of my 35mms I used on the newspaper. I’m getting ready to make an actual display shelf to show off my camera collection; I still have the 110 camera I carried in my empty ammo pouch during Army basic. Then there is the whole new world of folks taking smart phone pics too, but I find it impossible to give up my wide-angle lenses and zooms – photo details rule!

Have you taken a photo field trip from your porch or front door lately? Give it a try!

Happy Valentine’s Day From The Oregon Zoo Lion Cubs!

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Happy Quirky Friday Valentine’s Day! Know how the best plans run amuck? So went my morning, so finally getting around to Happy Valentine’s Day greetings. Since we all survived snow and ice-ageddon last weekend, found this great video from the Oregon Zoo showing what the lion cubs were up to over the snowy long weekend. Seems even lion moms were having to deal with cabin-crazed cubs!

So in the great Winter Olympic spirit, watch these kids go for the gold in the snow. They even end up on the podium! Have a great Valentine’s Day and remember, no chocolate calories today. Happy Quirky Friday!

Is Procrastination Part Of The Writing Process?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Of course. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Spent last Thursday night through Monday morning snowed and iced in at home. Late start at the day job Monday and my trusty Subie got me safely back to that job. Let’s review what I accomplished over the long weekend.

Perfect procrastination by taking pink flamingo pics. Yes, I have a heater in the bird bath. A.k.a. birdie spa is very popular with my feathered visitors.
Perfect procrastination by taking pink flamingo pics. Yes, I have a heater in the bird bath. A.k.a. birdie spa is very popular with my feathered visitors.

Cleaned out my front room and rearranged the furniture in it, tried on all my dresses and will be donating a bunch, cleaned and organized my linen closet, took snow pictures, cleaned the kitchen, purged my magazines, watched a movie plus lots of Olympics coverage and some non-stop tv snow news. What did I not do? Write or clean my disaster of an office/craft studio.

So if I am literally snowed in and I don’t clean my office or write what does that mean? It doesn’t feel fun? Sorting paper is never enjoyable and that is what I have to do in the home office. Since I crammed the craft room into the home office banker boxes have exploded out into the hallway and taken up residence.

They are really bugging me, but obviously not enough. One of my favorite bloggers/artists www.susanbranch.com says Mark Twain said procrastination is part of the creative process. Well Holy Cow Cakes I must have a dozen novels backed up in my subconscious.

I’ve decided to whittle away at the boxes by dragging one over to the LaZBoy each night and sorting during Olympics coverage commercials. Maybe that will do it. The writing part? Half of the office/craft room feels fun, the craft part, the other half is cluttered and feels like work. My muse is not happy with the environment. It can get snippy.

Clutter does cause stress and creative chaos. So maybe when I finish the gargantuan paper sort and get my creative craft nest organized my muse will be happy. We shall see. If not, I can always blame Mark Twain!

See the snow was one thing, but when the freezing rain showed up on top of the snow, everything stopped; except my cleaning binge!
See the snow was one thing, but when the freezing rain showed up on top of the snow, everything stopped; except my cleaning binge!

Snow, Pink Flamingos and the Olympics!

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by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

I’m not the biggest fan of snow. Serving with the Army at Fort Carson, Colorado for three years pulling guard duty, post guard, camping in the snow; high altitude combined with winter is flippin cold. I’m really a beach girl, like Maui, at heart. Yesterday we had a snow storm and more snow is coming tonight and this weekend.

So while I managed to make it home from the day job in my trusty Subaru, being warm and cozy at home is a favorite pastime when the weather gets crazy. This morning I was taking pics of my bird bath with the heater (birdie spa) with a ring of snow around the edge and the reflection of the sun against the pink flamingos beneath it. Brought to mind one of my favorite movies, “Rio.” Love the soundtrack and just found out there will be a “Rio 2.” Life is good!

Since this is the movie music I play while I am writing these days, thought you might like a little Brazil break in the middle of winter. So watch the trailer for the original before “Rio 2” comes out. Happy Quirky Friday!

P.S. Really nice of the Olympics to start so I have something to watch on tv this snowmageddon weekend! Go USA!

Four Marketing Lessons From The Budweiser Puppy

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest marketing platforms on the planet. That’s one reason why I watch the tv commercials so closely. Ad folks at the top of their creative game come to play. The take away for book marketing is always educational.

Budweiser Puppy Tweeting on a very large keyboard!
Budweiser Puppy Tweeting on a very large keyboard!

Four classic marketing rules were demonstrated by the Budweiser Puppy ad this year:

One: Babes, Beauties and Beasts: Working on the newspaper it was widely known pictures of babies – (i.e.*etrade),  good-looking men or women – (GoDaddy) and beasts, (Budweiser Puppy, Clydesdales) always resonate with readers. Us humans like to see pint-sized people, pretty people and fun animals. Score one for Madison Avenue using the age-old rule since the time of the real “Mad Men.”

Two: Hold the viewer/reader to the screen with feeling: We adore the puppy who finds a friend, is taken away from his home and buddies, then rescued by his buds and brought back home. Not one shot of a beer bottle.  Budweiser knows they are selling a feeling, commitment, brand loyalty and family and friends, not a bottle of beer.

Same with selling books. We writers are selling escape, education, thrills, solving problems, providing comfort and laughter.  It’s not really a book or a bottle of beer; our books offer an experience, touch feelings and/or help fix problems.

Can’t get much more heart-string pulling than a puppy, unless it’s the homecoming parade for the soldier from Afghanistan Budweiser used as their second commercial. We still have troops at war and when only his wife greets him when he comes home, then everybody is there it’s a tear-jerker. Besides the fact a crowd like that might freak out a returning combat vet it does send a heartfelt message. (By the way, women veterans come home too and I don’t see much of that, note to advertisers.)

Three: Use the three-act play structure for commercials, movies or books. Commercials are mini-mini movies or short, short stories but the same plotting and structure needs are present. The Budweiser puppy commercial has a set up, turning point and climax complete with a dog adopter villain and a happy ending all in 60 seconds flat. The B-story line sets up a possible human romance too.

Four: Social Media is here to stay and both Super Bowl ad and book launch campaigns require planning. The Budweiser Puppy Love Super Bowl ad was released online Wednesday, by Thursday it had gone viral and the Budweiser Puppy had his own Twitter account and was tweeting. According to the #HashTag Bowl, in 2012 only 25 percent of Super Bowl ads used hashtags, this year hashtags were used by more than 50 percent of the advertisers. So Twitter is here to stay and that Budweiser doggie is one smart social media puppy! #BestBuds

Links:

Budweiser Puppy Twitter Account: http://www.twitter.com/BudweiserPuppy

Budweiser Puppy Wins Super Bowl! http://marketingland.com/1-3-million-shares-budweiser-puppy-love-ad-declared-years-super-bowl-winner-72922

Twitter Rules Hashtag Bowl http://marketingland.com/game-over-twitter-mentioned-in-50-of-super-bowl-commercials-facebook-only-8-google-shut-out-32420

Super Bowl Spoiler Alert: Puppy Love!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                    (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Gearing up for the big event on Sunday; Super Bowl commercials that is. Was going to highlight one of my favorite Budweiser commercials and then this new one popped up on YouTube for this Sunday! I adore it! So if you want to wait until Sunday, don’t watch. But if you want to find out if Clydesdales can jump, check it out!

Remember the Kitten Bowl at noon on Sunday on the Hallmark Channel before the big game. I’ve got the snacks and French onion dip, so we’re ready for the couch potato extravaganza! Happy Quirky Friday!